Sensex falls 440 pts to end at 50,405; Nifty ends session in red at 14,938 pts

Sensex falls 440 pts to end at 50,405; Nifty ends session in red at 14,938 points

The BSE gauge Sensex tumbled over 440 points and the NSE Nifty cracked below the psychological 15,000-level on Friday in line with relentless sell-offs in global equities as US bond market turmoil continued to rattle investors.

Sensex falls 440 pts to end at 50,405; Nifty ends session in red at 14,938 points

At the closing bell, the Sensex was quoted at 50,405.32, showing a decline of 440.76 points or 0.87 per cent over the previous close. Intra-day, the index swung around 726 points.

The NSE barometer Nifty ended lower by 142.65 points or 0.95 per cent at 14,938.10.

On the Sensex chart, IndusInd Bank, SBI, Dr Reddy’s, NTPC, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and Bajaj FinServ emerged as major laggards.

On the other hand, ONGC, Maruti, Kotak Bank, Nestle and Ultratech Cement were among gainers. Of the Sensex shares, 21 ended with losses.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets continued their decline on Friday after a retreat on Wall Street amid concerns that rising bond yields will lead to inflationary pressure.

"Domestic equities corrected for second consecutive day as rise in 10-Year USA Treasury yields and commentary from Federal Reserve chairman on rising bond yields weighed on investors’ sentiments. Barring FMCG, all key sectoral indices witnessed sharp pullback with metals and PSU bank indices witnessing steeper correction in the range of 3-4 per cent,” said Binod Modi, Head - Strategy at Reliance Securities.

On the forex market front, the rupee closed 19 paise lower at 73.02 against the US dollar. Global crude oil benchmark Brent was trading 1.26 per cent higher at USD 68.11 per barrel.