It was the worst day for Indian equity benchmarks since April on Thursday ahead of the expiry of monthly derivatives and as Morgan Stanley downgraded India citing expensive valuations. Across-the-board sell-off led by deep losses in financial and IT shares dragged the market.

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The Sensex tumbled 1,158.6 points or 1.9 percent to end at 59,984.7 -- its worst percentage loss since April 30, and the broader Nifty50 gave up 353.7 points or 1.9 percent to settle at 17,857.3. For the 50-scrip index as well as the banking index, it was the worst day since April 12 in percentage terms.

The 30-scrip index ended the October futures & options series with a gain of 858.3 points or 1.5 percent.

Adani Ports, ITC, ONGC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Coal India, Axis Bank and Cipla -- closing between 3.5 percent and 7.4 percent lower -- were the worst hit among the 44 laggards in the Nifty50 universe on Thursday.

Among the six gainers were IndusInd Bank, L&T, UltraTech and Asian Paints, ending between 1.1 percent and 2.6 percent higher.

The Bank Nifty index tanked 3.3 percent, moving further away from record highs registered recently. Most of its components ended lower. IndusInd Bank bucked the trend, rising 2.9 percent a day after the private sector lender's quarterly profit beat Street estimates and asset quality improved.

Morgan Stanley downgraded Indian shares to 'equal weight' from 'overweight' citing expensive valuations.

Broader indices also bled. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 gauges fell nearly two percent each.

Tata Chemicals, Indian Bank, Union Bank, KEC International and Balaji Amines -- falling between 7-10 percent each -- were among the top losers in the indices. On the other hand, IRCTC, Whirlpool, TVS, Chambal Fertilizers and Tanla -- rising 4-12 percent each -- were among the gainers.

Around 410 shares in the BSE 500 index -- the broadest gauge on the bourse -- finished lower for the day.

Adani Ports shares tumbled a day after the port operator's quarterly numbers fell short of analysts' estimates by a wide gap.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) shares rose 10.7 percent as the scrip turned ex-stock split in the ratio of 1:5.

NSE's India VIX index -- which gauges the expectation of volatility in the market -- ended 6.4 percent higher at 17.9, having surged as much as 9.5 percent during the session.

Meanwhile, European shares recovered initial losses to move higher but cautiously ahead of a policy update from the European Central Bank. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.2 percent at the last count. The United Kingdom's FTSE benchmark was down 0.3 percent. MSCI's world index was flat.

S&P 500 E-Mini futures were up 0.3 percent, suggesting a positive start ahead on Wall Street, as investors awaited GDP data from the US.

Catch highlights of the October 28 session here

First Published:Oct 28, 2021 3:45 PM IST