Sensex tumbles over 460 points on fag-end profit booking in RIL, Axis Bank
MUMBAI: Paring its early gains, benchmark BSE Sensex plunged by 460 points on Friday due to profit booking in banking, IT, and energy shares in the pre-close session.
The 30-shares index had opened higher and touched a high of 57,975.48 amid a firm trend in global markets.
However, the barometer succumbed to heavy profit-booking at the fag-end, dropping to the day's low of 56,902.30 points.
The BSE index finally closed at 57,060.87, showing a loss of 460.19 points or 0.80 per cent over the previous close. As many as 23 Sensex stocks ended in the red.
The NSE Nifty tanked 142.50 points or 0.83 per cent to 17,102.55.
Axis Bank was the biggest loser among Sensex scrips, declining by 6.57 per cent. The bank has reported a 49.77 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter.
NTPC dropped by 3.82 per cent, Power Grid by 3.42 per cent, Wipro by 2.59 per cent, Titan by 2.19 per cent and SBI by 2 per cent.
Among heavyweights, Reliance declined 1.01 per cent, and TCS and Infosys by nearly 1 per cent.
In contrast, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and Dr Reddy were among the gainers.
Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd said, "Markets remained volatile and ended with a cut of nearly a per cent, in continuation of the prevailing consolidation phase. The news of war intensifying between Russia-Ukraine completely changed the tone in the latter half."
The selling pressure was widespread wherein banking, auto and energy lost maximum.
The broader markets too ended in the red and lost in the range of 0.8-1.3 per cent.
BSE Midcap fell by 198 points or 0.81 per cent to 24,418.04 while BSE Smallcap dropped by 166.12 points or 0.58 per cent to 28,778.04.
"Dips were encouraging investors to accumulate quality stocks with a focus on defensives & domestic growth sectors like manufacturing & capital goods. Domestic market reduced exposure ahead of the shortened next week and opening of India's largest IPO," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said.
Among sectoral indices, BSE Oil & Gas fell the most by 2.58 per cent.
BSE Energy dropped by 2.45 per cent, BSE Power by 1.92 per cent Utilities by 1.74 per cent, and Capital Goods by 1.34 per cent. BSE Bankex Telecom IT and Industrial indices fell over 1 per cent.
Asian markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul registered sharp gains. Markets in Europe were also trading in the green in the afternoon session.
Stocks in the US had ended with significant gains on Thursday.
The BSE benchmark had jumped 701.67 points or 1.23 per cent to end at 57,521.06 on Thursday.
The Nifty rallied 206.65 points or 1.21 per cent to 17,245.05. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 1.91 per cent to USD 109.65 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers after their continuous selling spree for the past many days, as they bought shares worth Rs 743.22 crore on Thursday, according to stock exchange data.