Sensex Ends 143 Points Lower As Financial Stocks Weigh On Markets

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended lower in trade on Friday as banking, financial services and metal shares came under selling pressure. However, a rally in Reliance Industries to new all-time high of Rs 1,884.60 capped the downside in the benchmarks. 

At day's lowest level, Sensex fell over 300 points and Nifty touched an intraday low of 10,713. HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the biggest drags on the Sensex.

The Sensex fell 143 points to close at 36,594 and Nifty declined 45 points to close at 10,768.

India recorded the biggest single-day spike of 26,506 coronavirus cases on Thursday, pushing the total count to 7,93,802, according to data from the Union Health Ministry this morning. With 475 new deaths, the fatality count has gone up to 21,604.

Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led Nifty PSU Bank index's 2.7 per cent fall. Bank, private bank, financial services, metal and media shares also faced selling pressure.

On the other hand, Nifty Pharma index was top gainer, up 0.85 per cent.

Axis Bank was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3.21 per cent to close at Rs 439. GAIL India, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Bharti Infratel, Titan, Adani Ports, JSW Steel, State Bank of India and ONGC also fell between 1.9-2.9 per cent.

On the flipside, Reliance Industries rallied as much as 3.3 per cent to hit an all-time high of Rs 1,884.60. With today's gain Reliance Industries market capitalisation moved closer to Rs 12 lakh crore.

Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Britannia Industries, Bharti Airtel, TCS and Coal India were among the notable gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,663 shares ended lower while 1,000 ended higher on the BSE.