Sensex tanks 813 points as crude spikes

MUMBAI: Rising geopolitical tensions in the Persian Gulf region pushed up Brent prices above the $100-per-barrel mark for the first time since July on Wednesday. This, in turn, led to the weakening of the rupee, which fell below the 95/$ mark and settled at 95.1 at close. Dalal Street, too, felt the jitters courtesy of these developments, with investors pressing the sell button, resulting in sensex falling below the 75K mark after nearly three months.With foreign funds selling aggressively, the benchmark index closed 813 points lower at 74,764 points. HDFC Bank and Infosys contributed the most to the day's losses. On NSE, Nifty lost 204 points (0.9%) to close at 23,432 points.In the last one month, sensex has lost nearly 3,800 points or 4.8%, while Nifty is down 1,152 points or 4.7%. The losses came on the back of muted foreign fund activity through this one-month period.