Sensex tanks 487 pts; Nifty slips below 15,100

Bajaj Auto was the top loser in the Sensex pack, falling around 3 per cent, followed by Maruti, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and Reliance Industries

Mumbai: Snapping its three-session rising streak, equity benchmark Sensex tumbled 487 points on Friday, tracking losses in financial and auto stocks. After gyrating 1,283 points during the day, the 30-share BSE index ended 487.43 points or 0.95 per cent lower at 50,792.08.

The broader NSE Nifty tanked 143.85 points or 0.95 per cent to end at 15,030.95. Bajaj Auto was the top loser in the Sensex pack, falling around 3 per cent, followed by Maruti, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and Reliance Industries.

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On the other hand, PowerGrid, ONGC, Titan and Infosys were the gainers. According to Binod Modi, Head – Strategy at Reliance Securities, after seeing a brisk opening on favourable global cues, domestic equities fell sharply mainly led by selling pressure in financials and auto stocks.
“10-Year US treasury yield again surged back to 1.6 per cent on anticipation of spike in inflation led by $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus backed faster economic recovery. This has weighed on investor sentiments,” he said.

Hardening bond yields and soaring oil prices are also expected to weigh on investor sentiment and may keep markets volatile in the near to medium term, he added. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended on a positive note, while Hong Kong was in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading in losses in mid-session deals. Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.09 per cent lower at $69.57 per barrel.