Closing Bell: Market crashes almost 5 per cent as Russia orders military operation in Ukraine

The Indian benchmark indices have nose-dived deep for the seventh consecutive trading session as geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine escalated.

The Indian benchmark indices have nose-dived deep for the seventh consecutive trading session as geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine escalated. 

All the sectoral indices on the NSE and BSE were in the red with PSU Bank, realty, media, and auto stocks losing the most. As per the provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 2,702.15 points or 4.72 per cent at 54,529.33.

The Nifty 50 index slumped 815.3 points or 4.78 per cent at 16,247.95. The BSE MidCap index has lowered today by 1301 points and ended the day at 22,256.71 levels. Similarly, the BSE SmallCap has plummeted by 1555 points and stood at 25,390.95 at day end. Bank Nifty on the other hand has fallen by 2163 points and ended the day at 35,228.10. The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, went up by 25.75 per cent to 36.23 levels. 

All the stocks on the BSE Sensex today have been taken over by the bears. No stock closed in green today. On the other hand, the top losers were da, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Larsen & Toubro, and ITC. The total stocks traded today were 3478 out of which 235 advanced and 3157 stocks declined, 86 stocks that were unchanged. The number of stocks that were locked in the upper circuit are 98 and 1063 stocks were locked in the lower circuit. The numbers of stocks that have made a 52-week high are 72 and t279 stocks made a 52-week low today.