india

Updated: Sep 17, 2019 14:36 IST

Sensex fell 622 points at its day’s low of 36,500 while Nifty slumped below 10,850 as Indian market indices continued to remain under pressure for the second day on Tuesday. Banking, auto, metal and IT stocks led the losses and Rupee also took a beating, falling to 71.88 against the US dollar.

Among the Sensex stocks, Hero MotoCorp fell 4.4%, Axis Bank 3.75% while ICICI Bank, SBI, Bajaj Auto, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Maruti, HDFC and Bharti Airtel declined between 2% and 3%.

However, those showing marginal gains were Vedanta, GAIL, Titan, Asian Paints and Yes Bank.

Meanwhile, investors in Asian markets remained broadly on the sidelines ahead of an expected interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve and the next round of US-China trade talks later this week.

The US and international benchmarks for crude fell back slightly after vaulting more than 14% overnight after an attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing plant.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index recovered from early losses to edge 0.1% higher at 22,001.32 and South Korea’s Kospi was flat at 2,062.33. The S&P ASX/200 in Sydney added 0.3% to 6,695.30.

But the Shanghai Composite index skidded 1.7% to 2,978.71 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.0% after Moody’s shifted its outlook to “negative.” Fitch Rating did so earlier.

Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said the downgrade was “disappointing.”

Moody’s said in a statement that the protests and their handling showed weaknesses in Hong Kong’s institutions. The turmoil was “damaging its attractiveness as a trade and financial hub,” it said.