Sensex slips 334 points, Nifty holds 11,900; YES Bank tumbles 11%
Investors turned to profit-booking on Friday as weak growth concerns dampened sentiment at D-Street. Financials slipped the most on the index with heavyweights such as State Bank of India, HDFC, and ICICI Bank declining up to 5 per cent.
On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sharply lowered its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for financial year 2019-20 (FY20) further by 110bps to 5 per cent from 6.1 per cent on substantially weaker growth in Q2FY20, and incremental data on Q3 which suggests that the slowdown is still persisting. Besides, the central bank retained status quo on rates, against expectation for a 25bps cut, on inflationary concerns. The accommodative stance was maintained on rising output gap.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed 334 points, or 0.82 per cent, lower at 40,445.15 level. YES Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, HDFC, and IndusInd Bank were the top laggards at the 30-share index. Loses were, however, trimmed by gains in Reliance Industries, and HDFC Bank. In the intra-day trade, the Sensex hit a low of 40,337.53.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 slipped below the 11,900-mark in the intra-day trade to hit a low of 11,888.85. At close, the index was at 11,921.5 level, down 97 points, or 0.81 per cent. All the sectoral indices ended the day in the red. Nifty PSU Bank index was the top loser, down over 4 per cent.
In the broader market, mid-caps tumbled the most. The S&P BSE mid-cap index ended the day 1.27 per cent lower at 14,668.31, while the S&P BSE small-cap index closed at 0.85 per cent lower at 13,341.39.