Sensex plunges 984 points on slowdown fears

Barring pharma, metals and IT, most of key sectoral indices saw selling pressure.

April 30, 2021 04:13 pm | Updated 10:52 pm IST - Mumbai

Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), in Mumbai. File

Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), in Mumbai. File

Equity indices plunged almost 2% on Friday, ending a four-day rising streak, as traders offloaded banking and financial stocks fearing local lockdowns leading to an economic slowdown.

The S&P BSE Sensex plunged almost 984 points, or 1.98%, to end the session at 48,782 while the Nifty dropped almost 264 points, or 1.77%, to 14,631 amid widespread selling pressure.

 

Top losers included HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Asian Paints. Pharma and sugar stocks bucked the trend.

“Heavy selling in key pivotals, including financials and HDFC twins kept indices in the red throughout the day as fears of localised lockdowns manifesting itself into a slowdown made investors cautious ahead of the state poll outcomes,” said S. Ranganathan, head of research at LKP Securities.

 

“Despite firm global cues, the benchmark opened gap down and gradually drifted lower as the day progressed. Among the sectoral indices, profit taking in banking and financial stocks pushed the bulls on the backfoot,” said Ajit Mishra, VP, research, Religare Broking Ltd.

He said on Monday early trade markets will first react to Reliance Industries’ earnings and monthly auto sales numbers. “Besides, participants will be eyeing the election results of five States on May 2. Put together, traders should prepare themselves for a volatile start,” he added.

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