Closely monitoring financial markets along with Sebi: RBI

Mumbai:The Reserve Bank Sunday said that it along with Sebi is "closely monitoring" recent developments in financial markets and "ready" to take actions, if necessary, as domestic bourses witnessed sudden mid-session plunge last Friday.

"The Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India are closely monitoring recent developments in financial markets and are ready to take appropriate actions, if necessary," the central bank said in a brief statement.

On Friday the BSE Sensex, which opened on a strong footing, suddenly tanked 1,127.58 points, or 3.03 per cent, to hit a low of 35,993.64 in afternoon trade, before staging an equally sharp recovery within minutes.

It finally closed at 36,841.60, down 279.62 points. It saw an intra-day swing of 1,495.60 points.

The broader NSE Nifty shed 91.25 points to finish at 11,143.10.

The indices closed in



the red for the fourth day in a row, during which investors lost a massive Rs 5.6 lakh crore.

Overseas investors have pulled out a massive Rs 15,365 crore (USD 2.1 billion) from the capital markets so far in September, after putting in funds during the previous two months, on widening current account deficit coupled with global trade tensions.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers and offloaded equities worth Rs 2,184.55 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases worth a net Rs 1,201.30 crore Wednesday, provisional data showed.

The Indian currency has also witnessed a massive plunge in the recent past due to rising trade and current account deficits in the wake of rising crude oil prices.

However, the rupee was bullish on Friday for the second day, rising 17 paise to end at 72.20 against the US dollar.