Better-than-expected earnings by the market heavyweight Reliance helped the markets rebound in the second half of trade from the day’s lows, still heavy selling saw the benchmark Sensex shaving off another 191 points on Friday.
The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange barometer opened with massive 353 points down, tracking global markets and spooked by poor corporate results yesterday and mounting inflation worries, as foreign funds continued their selling spree from the very start of the day.
The market continued its southward-ho till Reliance Industries stunned the market with a nearly 16 per cent jump in Q3 fruits-the first profit in five quarters.
The Sensex, which had plunged 423 points in the previous session, fell further by 191.46 points to 16,6089, a level last seen on December 22, after touching a low of 16,608.09.
Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty 50 too dropped by 58.10 points to 5036.00, after touching a low of 4,954 points. The Nifty had a huge gap-down opening of 110.85 points.
Sensex posted its steepest weekly drop since October 30, after four days of losses erased 4.5 per cent of its value.
Selling pressure gathered momentum after Morgan Stanley warned of “upside risks” in the India growth story coupled with rising inflation which may force the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates in its monetary policy on January 29.
Steep fall in stocks of realty, IT and capital goods mainly contributed to the downtrend. Among the 30 Sensex stocks, only four gained that too marginally today.
Weak global sentiment also contributed to the massive opening losses for the market.
