Indices tumble as Ukraine crisis intensifies

Benchmark indices tumbled in early trade amid rising geopolitical tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced military action in Eastern Ukraine but iterated that he does not plan to occupy Ukraine.

At 9:19 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 1,359.79 points or 2.38% to 55,872.27. The Nifty 50 index fell 397.4 points or 2.33% to 16,665.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 2.54% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slumped 3.04%.

Sellers outpaced buyers. On the BSE, 270 shares rose and 2208 shares fell. A total of 75 shares were unchanged.

Market may see high volatility today on account of monthly F&O expiry.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,417.16 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 3,024.37 crore in the Indian equity market on 23 February, provisional data showed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Wipro fell 2.47%. The IT major announced that it has joined the global partnership network of o9 Solutions, a leading enterprise AI software platform provider for transforming planning and decision-making.

Indus Towers slumped 8.7%. Vodafone PLC is reportedly likely to sell 2.4% stake in the company worth $200 million. The stake sale will take place through a block deal today and offer range is Rs 227-231 per share.

Piramal Enterprises was down 4.19%. The company`s board of directors will meet on February 28 to consider and approve the issue of Secured, Rated, Listed, Redeemable, Principal Protected, Market Linked Non-Convertible Debentures up to Rs. 100 crores along with an option to retain oversubscription up to Rs. 400 crores, the total size aggregating up to Rs. 500 crores, on a private placement basis.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks fell on Thursday as investors continue to watch the escalating situation between Russia and Ukraine.

The Bank of Korea kept interest rates unchanged at 1.25% at its meeting on Thursday. However, it predicted that consumer price inflation will run �substantially above 3% for a considerable time.�

US stocks fell sharply once again Wednesday, as escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine push the major averages to fresh lows for the year so far.

Investors have been juggling brewing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine warned its citizens against traveling to Russia and to leave the neighboring country, if they are there. Meanwhile, the UK said that it was ready to impose more sanctions on Russia.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced it will allow sanctions to move forward on the company in charge of building Russia`s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, following a first tranche of sanctions against Russia Tuesday that targets Russian banks, the country`s sovereign debt and three individuals.

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