Opening Bell: Market plunges over 3 per cent as Russia announces military operation in Ukraine

On Thursday morning the markets opened lower only to plunge deep as the day advanced.

On Thursday morning the markets opened lower only to plunge deep as the day advanced. The bear tightens its grip over the global markets as Russia advances its efforts to invade East Ukraine despite all the warnings from the USA and the United Nations. This has led to a surge in crude oil prices hitting a 7-year high and has almost crossed the USD 100 per barrel mark. 

The selling from FIIs and the all-time increasing inflation in the country is also aiding the fall in the domestic markets along with the global crisis that awaits caused by the Russian Government. 

The Asian markets were down by 2 per cent, with the core equity indices, i.e., Sensex and Nifty following suit. The Sensex was at 55,323.95, down by 1908.11 points or 3.33 per cent and the Nifty was down by 551.30 points or 3.23 per cent at 16,511.95. 

BSE Midcap was trading at 22,764.94 down by 3.37 per cent and BSE Smallcap was at 25,954.12, down by 3.65 per cent. Similarly, Nifty Midcap 100 was at 27,493.10 down by 3.42 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 was at 9,563.65, down by 3.95 per cent. 

There were no gainers in the market at these levels. The top losers of the Sensex pack were Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, and Tech Mahindra. 

Likewise, the top losers on the Nifty were Tata Motors, Tata Steel, UPL, IndusInd Bank, and Adani Ports. 

On the BSE, 271 shares have advanced, 2393 shares have declined and 77 shares are unchanged. Also, 60 stocks have hit their upper circuit and 368 stocks have hit their lower circuit. 

The top trending stocks on BSE, this morning are 3MIndia, Aegis Logistics, AIA Engineering, Amaraja Batteries, Apollo Tyres, Astra Zeneca, Bayer CropScience, Bank of India, Bajaj Consumer Care, and BPCL. 

All the sectoral indices were also in the red, with the average downfall being in the range of 2 per cent to 4 per cent.