Sensex gives up 51K amid broad-based sell-off, dips 435 pts; PSBs, auto hit

Stock market updates: Extending their decline into fourth straight day, benchmark indices ended the week with over 1 per cent cut on the back of lossess in Eicher Motors (7 per cent), Nestle India (5.3 per cent), Divis Labs (5.4 per cent), and Cipla (5 per cent). 

On Friday, though, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex nursed losses of 435 points, or 0.85 per cent, to end the day at 50,890 levels. In the intra-day trade, the index tanked 800 points from the day's high to hit a low of 50,624. Only 11 of the 30 constituents ended the day in green with ONGC (down 5 per cent), SBI and Axis Bank (down 3.5 per cent each), ICICI Bank (3 per cent), Baja Auto (2.6 per cent), and Maruti Suzuki (2 per cent) being the top losers.

Gains in Dr Reddy's Labs (2.3 per cent), IndusInd Bank (2 per cent), HUL (1.7 per cent), and RIL (0.7 per cent) trimmed losses.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 index gave up the 15,000-mark and settled at 14,982 levels, down 137 points or 0.9 per cent. It hit an intra-day low of 14,898.

The broader markets, too, gave up their winning ways today and ended in the red. The S&P BSE MidCap index underperformed on the BSE and ended1.7 per cent down today. The SmallCap counterpart, meanwhile, settled 0.7 per cent lower.

Sectorally, none of the indices ended in the green zone today. The Nifty PSU bank index ended as the top laggard on the NSE, down 4.7 per cent, after surging nearly 6 per cent each over the past two days. That apart, Nifty Metal, Bank, and Auto indices skid 2 per cent each.    

Global markets

Shares struggled to avoid a fourth straight day of losses on Friday as data showed euro zone business activity slowing in February, while German and British 10-year bond yields touched multi-month highs, driven up by bets on rising inflation.

The pan European index was up 0.1 per cent, while London's FTSE index was 0.1 per cent weaker.

In Asia, MSCI world equity benchmark was up 0.1 per cent, MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan was down 0.1 per cent, while E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were broadly flat.

(With inputs from Reuters)