Sensex down 143 points, Nifty below the 10,200 points

Negative global cues, along with a depreciating domestic currency, pulled the Sensex down 140 points during the afternoon session of the trade on Friday.

While auto and the telecom counters were the bright spot, heavy selling pressure was witnessed in IT, banking and TECK (technology, entertainment and media) stocks on the BSE.

"The weakness in the domestic markets can be attributed to the Asian markets, as all the major economies have huge debts and are facing heavy inflation along with currency depreciation," Anuj Gupta, Deputy Vice President - Research - Commodities and Forex, Angel Brooking, told IANS.

"Currency depretation and high crude oil prices have impacted corporate earnings, which is evident in their balance sheet."

The domestic currency was trading at around Rs 73.36 a US dollar (12.58 p.m.), after closing at 73.28 on Friday while the benchmark brent crude was at $76.40 a barrel.

The S&P BSE Sensex which had opened at 33,776.80 points from its previous close of 33,690.09 points traded at 33,545.60 points (1.09 p.m.), down 144.49 points or 0.43 per cent.

It touched an intra-day high of 33,776.80 points and a low of 33,332.10 points.

The NSE Nifty50 traded at 10,081.80 points during the afternoon trade session, down 43.10 points or 0.43 per cent.

Among the major losers was Yes Bank, which on Thursday reported a decline of 3.7 per cent in its net profit for the quarter ended September. Its stocks traded over 6 per cent lower at Rs 185.75 apiece. ITC was trading over 2 per cent lower, at Rs 279.95 apeice ahead of its Q2 results due later in the day.

--IANS

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