Sensex ends on Friday 329 points lower, Nifty slips below 8,100

The benchmark indices on Friday settled the day lower as auto makers dropped on sharp decline in monthly sales and stocks of telecom service providers – Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications (RCom) – were hit by worries about intensifying competition with the extension of freebies offered by Reliance Jio (RJio) till March 2017.

Sentiment was also muted ahead of the release of the US monthly jobs data, a referendum in Italy over its constitution, and the Reserve Bank of India’s policy review next week.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 26,230, down 329 points, while the broader Nifty50 closed at 8,086, down 106 points.

Market breadth turned negative with 1,779 declines over 884 advances on the BSE. 128 stocks remained unchanged.

BSE Consumer Durables sector was the top loser and dropped over 2%, led by losses in Titan and Whirpool, down nearly 5% each.

Auto stocks fell after auto makers reported loss in monthly domestic sales in November as an intense cash crunch brought a recent recovery in consumer demand to a screeching halt. Mahindra & Mahindra fell 1%, TVS Motor dropped 2.64%, and Tata Motors declined 3%.

Telecom companies continued to languish after Reliance Industries on Thursday extended an offer of free data and voice services by its telecoms unit, RJio, raising concerns about the cut-throat competition in the sector. Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel declined upto 2% in intraday deals.

Banks fell on caution ahead of the RBI’s policy decision next week. Nifty Bank lost 1%.

Paints companies were under pressure for the second straight trading session tracking the sharp rally in global crude oil prices.

Asian Paints, Berger Paints India, Shalimar Paints and Kansai Nerolac were down between 2% and 4% on the BSE. In past two trading sessions, Asian Paints and Shalimar Paints were down more than 6% each on the BSE.