Equity indices bleed as rising Omicron sparks heavy selling

Mumbai: The Sensex plummeted 889 points while the Nifty sank below the 17,000-mark on Friday, in line with a selloff in global markets as hawkish central banks and rising Omicron cases sparked a retreat from riskier assets. Investors' wealth tumbled by over Rs 4.65 lakh crore.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 889.40 points or 1.54 per cent to finish at 57,011.74. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty plunged 263.20 points or 1.53 per cent to 16,985.20.

IndusInd Bank was the top laggard on the Sensex chart, shedding 4.89 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, HUL, Titan, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv and SBI.

In value terms, Reliance Industries and HDFC twins accounted for around half of the benchmark's losses.

Only five index components managed to close in the green — Infosys, HCL Tech, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma and TCS, spurting up to 2.84 per cent.

During the week, the Sensex slumped 1,774.93 points or 3.01 per cent and Nifty tanked 526.10 points or 3 per cent.

Sectorally, BSE realty, bankex, energy, finance, auto and oil and gas indices lost as much as 3.78 per cent in Friday's session, while IT and teck mustered gains of up to 1.32 per cent. Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices slumped up to 2.42 per cent.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.48 per cent to $ 73.91 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,468.71 crore, as per exchange data.