Sensex crashes 2,345 points, Nifty below 23,800 as oil prices surge

Mumbai, Mar 9 (PTI) Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled nearly 3 per cent in early trade on Monday as boiling crude oil prices and bearish trend in global equities weighed heavily on investors' sentiment.

Besides, relentless foreign fund outflows also made investors jittery.

The 30-share BSE Sensex crashed 2,345.89 points or 2.97 per cent to 76,573.01 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 708.75 points or 2.89 per cent to 23,741.70.

All the 30-Sensex firms were trading lower. InterGlobe Aviation traded nearly 8 per cent lower. Tata Steel, Maruti, State Bank of India, Eternal, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank were also among the major laggards.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 23.63 per cent to USD 114.59 per barrel.

"Brent crude has spiked above $115 delivering a big oil shock to economies and markets. Big oil importers like India will be hit hard if the West Asian conflict lingers long and crude price remains high," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi tumbled over 7 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 6.5 per cent. Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index were also quoting lower.

The US market ended lower on Friday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 6,030.38 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 6,971.51 crore in the previous trade.

On Friday, the Sensex tumbled 1,097 points or 1.37 per cent to settle at 78,918.90. The Nifty dropped 315.45 points or 1.27 per cent to end at 24,450.45.

Last week, the BSE benchmark tanked 2,368.29 points or 2.91 per cent, and the Nifty declined 728.2 points or 2.89 per cent. PTI

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