Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices — the Sensex and the Nifty — witnessed heavy selloff on Friday after investors booked profits in realty, banking, IT and auto bluechips amid weak signals from global markets.
The Sensex plunged 689.60 points, or 1.89 per cent, to 35,742.07, while the Nifty slipped 197.70 points, or 1.81 per cent, to 10,754. The 30-share Sensex end-ed the week 527.93 points lower, and the broader Nifty lost 134 points.
The equity market witnessed selling ahead of the weekend, mainly due to fears of lower global economic growth in the coming year, said Joseph Thomas, head research, Emkay Wealth Management.
Concerns over the rupee also loomed over IT and tech stocks, analysts said.
The biggest losers of the session include Reliance, Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins, ITC, Maruti, L&T, HUL, Axis Bank, Wipro and IndusInd Bank, cracking up to 4 per cent. On the other hand, NTPC, PowerGrid and Coal India were the only gainers on Sensex, rising up to one per cent.
BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices too witnessed heavy selling, falling 1.79 per cent and one per cent, respectively.
Investors also took cues from world markets, which tumbled on fears of a potential US government shutdown and rising tension between the US and China.
The rupee, meanwhile, fell 52 paise to 70.22 against the US dollar.
The rupee gave up some gains due to volatility in bond yield. However, fall in oil prices is expected to provide strength to rupee in the near term.
Investors are using this opportunity to book profit after the recent rally, the market direction will turn positive as domestic economic indicators remain healthy, the analysts said. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading 0.96 per cent lower at 53.83 per barrel in futures trade. Elsewhere in Asia, Korea’s Kospi ended 0.06 per cent higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.51 per cent; while, Japan’s Nikkei plunged 1.11 per cent and Shanghai Index slipped 0.79 per cent.
