Bloodbath in Dalal street: Sensex crashes over 1700 pts; Nifty below 16,550; Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, M-;M top bears

Domestic markets plunged sharply on Thursday after Russia announced a military operation in Ukraine. All the sectoral indices are trading in the red, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Auto were underperforming, as the index fell by 3.20 per cent and 2.71 per cent, respectively. FMCG, oil & gas, metal, IT, power and realty down 2-4%, respectively.

As per media reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised a special military operation in Ukraine's Donbass region.

The benchmark BSE Sensex tanked 1,760.01 points or 3.08 per cent to 55,472.05 while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 524 points or 3.07 per cent to 16,539.10. Mid-and small-cap shares were trading on a negative note as Nifty Midcap 100 index moved 2.65 per cent lower and small-cap shares shed 3.06 per cent.

All the Nifty stocks are in red at this hour, the top losers are Tata Motors tanked at 5.5%, followed by IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and M&M.

On BSE, the overall market breadth was weak as 245 shares were advancing while 2,832 were declining.

On the commodity front, crude oil and gold prices soared after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced military action in Eastern Ukraine but iterated that he does not plan to occupy Ukraine.