As markets crashed on Thursday afternoon, Sensex dropped 1,000 points, while Nifty was down over 350 points.
At 2pm, Sensex dropped 1,063 points to 71,575.16 and the Nifty was down 359.45 points at 22,243.60.
The markets had a sluggish opening in the morning as NSE Nifty opened at 22,542.00, down 61.05 points, or 0.27 per cent, while the BSE Sensex opened at 72,462.16, lower by 176.54 points, or 0.24 per cent.
The subdued opening came a day after the benchmark indices snapped a two-session gaining streak. On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 429.11 points, or 0.59 per cent, to close at 72,638.70, while the NSE Nifty declined 173.05 points, or 0.76 per cent, to settle at 22,603.05.
The decline on Wednesday followed the RBI’s decision to raise the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 per cent, its first rate hike in nearly four years. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously for the increase and shifted its stance from neutral to “calibrated tightening”.
The market crash comes amid simmering tensions in the Middle East and continued uncertainty over energy supplies, pushing a 4% raise in the price of Brent crude oil on Thursday
Share prices fell in Europe and Asia and US futures also declined after US stocks retreated under pressure from rising yields in the bond market, the Associated Press reported.