Sensex tanks 720 points from day’s high, ends 125 down; Nifty PSB drops 3%
In a volatile session on Dalal Street, the benchmark indices tumbled from record high levels to snap their three-day winning run amid losses in RIL, IT stocks and select banking counters. Despite a firm global market sentiment, the Indian indices settled in the red as profit taking ensued following a steep rally in the indices which saw them hitting significant landmarks.
After touching a record high of 59,737, the BSE barometer Sensex plunged 721 points from the high to end at 59,016, down 125 points. At the same time, its NSE counterpart Nifty50 settled the day 44 points down at 17,585. The 50-pack index had touched record peak of 17,793 in morning session. However, on the weekly basis, the benchmark indices gained, thus taking their winning run to the fourth straight week.
The fall was more pronounced in the broader markets. The BSE Midcap index sank 1.14 per cent and BSE Smallcap index 1.06 per cent, thus, underperforming benchmark Sensex. Overall, the advance-decline ratio on BSE stood at nearly 1:2, indicating that for every one share that rose, two declined.
Sectorally, PSU Bank index tanked the most among all sectors, reversing strong gains that were seen on Thursday amid expectations that FM Nirmala Sitharaman would announce National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) that would acquire bad loans in an attempt to resolve them. While the announcement did come, investors preffered to take profits off the table, pushing the index 2.96 per cent lower.
It was closely trailed by Nifty Media & Realty that shed 2.38 per cent and 2.35 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, Nifty Media, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank were the gainers. Nifty Auto setlled the day unchanged.