Sensex crashes 1,028 pts as all sectors painted in red, VIX soars 15%

Investing.com -- Indian equity benchmark indices opened in the red on Wednesday tracking negative cues from global markets and a sharp drag or fall in Asian peers, on the back of a weak economic backdrop coming in the US, China, and euro zone, shooting concerns of a slowdown in these economies and raising caution on risk sentiment.

The 30-scrip headline index Sensex plunged almost 1,000 points on Wednesday, gathering selling pace across the Indian market, with Tata giants Tata Steel (NS:TISC) and Tata Motors (NS:TAMO) leading the slump.

At 04:30 ET (08:30 GMT), benchmark index Nifty 50 tanked 1.46% to 19,446.6 levels, tumbling to an intraday low of 19,438.15, and Sensex shed 982.5 points or 1.48%, crashing 1,027.6 points in the session.

The Indian market volatility barometer India VIX rallied 15% to 11.79 on Wednesday and was last seen trading 13.03% higher at 11.63 points.

The market sell-off is (mainly) a result of Fitch Ratings downgrading the US sovereign credit grade from AAA to AA+, which is showing a minor impact on emerging markets like India, but analysts believe that it is not likely to be a major concern for the Indian market, as feared earlier.

Banking, auto, and metal sectors are majorly exerting pressure on Dalal Street today, pulling the domestic market lower and leading a broad-based, across-the-market slump in the ongoing session.

All sectoral indices listed under the Nifty umbrella were marred in red, led by an over 3% slide in Nifty PSU Bank, while Nifty Metal followed. Key index Nifty Bank tumbled nearly 2% in the intraday trade.

Losses on the Nifty 50 pack were led by Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp (NS:HROM), Eicher Motors (NS:EICH), and NTPC (NS:NTPC), while Divi's Laboratories (NS:DIVI) and Nestlé (NS:NEST) gained.