Sensex Slips Over 400 Points, Nifty Trades Below 16,950; Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank Among Top Drags

New Delhi: The Indian equity benchmarks traded lower on Friday after opening in green led by losses in Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Tata Motors. As of 11:04 am, the 30-share Sensex pack was down 421 points or 0.73 per cent at 56,894 and the broader NSE Nifty moved 148 points or 0.87 per cent lower to 16,925.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading in red as Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 1.24 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index cracked 0.72 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, Grasim was the top Nifty laggard as the stock slipped 2.49 per cent to Rs 1,618.20. Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Tata Motors were also among the losers.

On the flip side, HCL Tech, SBI Life, Tech Mahindra, Nestle India and ITC were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was weak as 1,248 shares were advancing while 1,840 were declining on BSE.

On the BSE platform, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, Asian Paints attracted the most gains with their shares rising as much as 2.09 per cent in late morning deals.

Sensex had jumped 384.72 points or 0.68 per cent to end at 57,315.28 on Thursday; Nifty had advanced 117.15 points or 0.69 per cent to settle at 17,072.60.

Both the BSE and NSE have rebounded this week as fears over the impact of the highly infectious Omicron variant on the global economy receded. The domestic indices had plunged as much as 3 per cent on Monday.

Globally, most Asian share markets edged higher on Friday and the safe-haven dollar was on the back foot, on signs the Omicron variant would not significantly derail global economic growth. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei inched 0.1 per cent higher, after the S&P 500 had finished at a record closing high.

Some markets, however, fell on tighter measures to contain the spread of Omicron. Chinese blue chips slipped 0.32 per cent a day after rising infections in the northwestern city of Xi'an resulted in a lockdown of its 13 million residents.