Sensex Down Over 700 Points, Nifty Struggles Below 8,100; Banks Bleed

Domestic share markets extended losses to tumble more than 2 per cent in the last hour of trade on Friday, owing to weakness in banking, financial services and IT shares. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped as much as 765 points to hit 27,500 at the lowest level of the day whereas the broader NSE Nifty 50 tumbled as much as 198 points to hit 8.056 on the downside. Selling pressure in banking, automobile and IT stocks weighed on the markets, however strong buying interest in pharmaceutical and consumer goods counters kept the losses in check. 

At 2:44 pm, the Sensex was down 705 points at 27,560 and the Nifty was at 8,061, down 193 points from the previous close.

Analysts say market participants will monitor updates on the spread of the coronavirus pandemic closely in the near term.   

"Retail, pharma and FMCG shares will be least affected from the outbreak of the virus and reports that US companies may shift their bases from China to India will be positive for Indian equities," AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, told NDTV.

ICICI Bank was the top percentage loser in the Nifty basket of 50 shares, down 7 per cent at Rs 289. IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel, Titan, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Wipro, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Steel trading with losses of between 4 per cent and 6.5 per cent each.

On the flipside, Sun Pharma was top Nifty gainer, up 10 per cent at Rs 377. ITC, Cipla, GAIL India, Bharat Petroleum, ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Dr Reddy's Labs and Indian Oil were up between 2 per cent and 9 per cent each.

Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange traded lower in late afternoon deals, led by the Nifty Private Bank index which was down 3.5 per cent. The Nifty Bank, Financial Services, PSU Bank, Auto and IT sectoral indices traded 1.4-3.4 per cent lower each.

On the other hand, Nifty Pharma index surged over 5 per cent, followed by the Nifty FMCG index which was 2.5 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices were down 0.6 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.