Stock Market: Sensex Plunges 1,016 Points, Nifty Holds 16,200; Banks, IT Top Drags

The two key domestic benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday plunged sharply tracking extensive losses in IT, finance, banking and energy stocks amid widespread selling across sectors and tracking weak global cues.

The BSE Sensex ended 1,016 points (1.84 per cent) lower at 54,303, while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 276 points (1.68 per cent) to 16,201.

On the 30-share BSE platform, Kotak Bank was the top loser, skidding about 4 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, HDFC twins, Reliance Industries, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, and TCS. On the flipside, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy’s, Titan, and IndusInd Bank were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth stood negative as 1,309 shares advanced, while 1,999 declined on the BSE.

In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap100 fell up to 1 per cent.

On NSE, all the 15 sector gauges settled in the red. Sub-indexes IT, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Oil & Gas underperformed the platform by falling as much as 2.17 per cent, 2.24 per cent and 2.08 per cent, respectively.

In the previous session on Thursday, the Sensex surged 427 points (0.78 per cent) to close at 55,320, while the NSE Nifty advanced 121 points (0.74 per cent) to finish at 16,478.

The rupee declined 11 paise to close at a record low of 77.85 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday.

Following a massive sell-off in the US market, bourses in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul ended sharply lower, while Shanghai settled in the green.

Equities in Europe were witnessing intense selling pressure in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.45 per cent to $123.62 per barrel.

The basket of crude oil that India buys has hit a decade high of $121 per barrel, but retail selling prices of petrol and diesel continue to remain frozen.

The Indian basket on June 9 touched $121.28, matching levels seen in February/March 2012, according to data available from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC).

According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 1,512.64 crore on Thursday.