Stock Market: Sensex falls over 1,000 points, Nifty 50 settles near day's low

Stock Market Today: The domestic benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty 50 settled with sharp losses on Wednesday, December 20 as bears gripped D-Street in late afternoon hours.

Market observers attributed the crash to profit booking and view the correction as long overdue over stretched valuation of mid- and small-cap stocks.

Asian shares mostly advanced on Wednesday after Wall Street ticked higher amid hopes that Japan's moves to keep interest rates easy for investors could augur similar trends in the rest of the world. US futures rose while oil prices were virtually unchanged after two days of gains.

The US dollar held steady against a basket of peers as traders weighed the chances that the Fed would soon begin cutting interest rates. Fed officials have been pushing back after last week's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting saw three rate cuts penciled in for 2024, sparking a rally in financial markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex settled 1,052.10 points or 1.47 per cent lower at 70,385.09, while the Nifty 50 closed 21,106.40, down 1.62 per cent or 346 points today. The Nifty 50 has added about 7 per cent in December, and is heading for its best month since July 2022.

Nifty Midcap 100 index plunged 4.5 per cent from day’s high and Nifty Smallcap 100 index, meanwhile, declined 5 per cent from day’s high to a low of 14,951. IT companies, drawing a significant share of their revenue from the US market, have gained nearly 10 per cent in the last two weeks on expectations of a rate cut in the first half of 2024.

The rupee ended flat at 83.18 (provisional) against the US dollar amid massive selling in equity markets as concerns over oil supplies through the Red Sea route dented investor sentiment.

Forex traders said though the US dollar index below 102 level provided support, the Indian currency was weighed down by foreign fund outflow amid volatile crude oil prices. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.08 per cent higher at 101.87 on Wednesday.