Sensex Dives 1,100 Points as Panic Grips Dalal Street, Wild Swing Continues After Recovery

New Delhi: The BSE Sensex recovered nearly 900 points after plummeting over 1,100 points in the afternoon session on major selloff in finance stocks, despite firm global cues and rupee recovery.

The sharp downward swing was led by NBFCs and DHFL in particular as it crashed over 50% as investors pulled out fearing a liquidity crisis.

There were wild swings on the market as both the bloodbath and the recovery were equally swift. The selloff was so intense that the Sensex crashed around 1,100 points within a matter of minutes. The recovery was fast too as the BSE benchmark immediately recovered over 900 points.

After trading at an intra-day low of 35,993.64 points, against the previous close of 37,121.22 points, the benchmark index is currently trading at 36,512 points, down over 500 points from Thursday. The Sensex had lost 969.42 points in the previous three sessions.

The recovery was aided by managements of DHFL and Indiabulls Housing allaying investor fears.

The broader NSE Nifty cracked below the 11,000 mark, falling 367.90 points, or 3.27 per cent, to touch a low of 10,866.45, before recovering over 300 points to trade near 11,169.90.

Shares of Yes Bank, Sun Pharma and Indiabulls Housing were the top losers, while ITC, ONGC and Bharti Infratel gained the most.

Heavy selling was witnessed in realty, healthcare, banking, IT, auto, teck, power consumer durables, FMCG, capital goods, infrastructure, metal and PSU indices, which fell up to 3.65 per cent.

Among stock specific action, YES Bank tanked 20 per cent after RBI trimmed Rana Kapoor's tenure as its CEO. The private lender said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had allowed Kapoor to continue only till January 31.

According to sources, the RBI has cited corporate governance and regulatory issues for not extending Kapoor’s term. Further, the lender has been directed to search for a successor.

Overseas, most Asian shares were trading higher, tracking positive closing in the US market overnight.

Shanghai Composite Index was up by 0.90 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1 per cent. Japan's Nikkei too inched 0.50 per cent higher after a data release earlier showed that the country's nationwide core consumer price index for the month of August rose 0.90 per cent compared to a year ago.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.97 per cent higher Thursday.