Sensex drops 190 points; Nifty ends below 12K

All eyes have now turned to the Union Budget, scheduled to be presented on Saturday.

A view of the BSE building in Mumbai. File

Market benchmark Sensex fell 190 points and the Nifty slumped below the 12,000 level on Friday after the Economic Survey suggested relaxing fiscal deficit target to revive growth.

Witnessing a sharp decline at the fag end of the session, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 190.33 points, or 0.47%, lower at 40,723.49. It hit an intra-day low of 40,671.01 and a high of 41,154.49.

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty finished 73.70 points, or 0.61%, down at 11,962.10.

ONGC was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, dropping 5.80%, followed by PowerGrid, HCL Tech, TCS, Tata Steel and Reliance Industries.

On the other hand, Kotak Bank, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel and Tech Mahindra ended with gains.

According to Deepthi Mary Mathew, Economist at Geojit Financial Services, the Economic Survey highlights the difficult fiscal situation, and possible crowding out of private investors due to the increased market borrowing by the government.

The Survey said the fiscal deficit target for current fiscal may need to be relaxed to revive growth.

All eyes have now turned to the Union Budget, scheduled to be presented on Saturday. Stock exchanges will be open for normal trading on Saturday.

Meanwhile, bourses in Hong Kong and South Korea ended in the red, while Japan rose 1%. Markets in China remained closed.

Stock exchanges in Europe opened on a negative note.

Brent crude oil futures rose 0.38% to $57.55 per barrel.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee appreciated 23 paise to 71.35 per US dollar (intra-day).