Sensex falls 156 points on Friday to end near 5-month low; Smallcaps and Pharma stocks sink
Benchmark indices ended lower for fifth straight trading sessions dragged down by selling pressure in pharma shares while weak global cues also dampened investor sentiment. Further, consistent selling by foreign portfolio investors along with growing uncertainty over Hillary Clinton’s victory in the US Presidential election also weighed on market sentiment.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended down 156 points to settle at 27,274 and the Nifty50 settled 51 points lower at 8,434. Sensex touched its lowest level since July 8, 2016 in intra-day trade whereas the Nifty dropped to its lowest level since July 11, 2016.
The broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices significantly- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell between 1%-2.5%. Market breadth on the BSE ended lower with 200 declines and 500 advances.