Bears oust bulls from markets as Sensex tanks over 460 pts amid selling in energy, IT stocks

Mumbai: Paring its early gains, benchmark BSE Sensex plunged by 460 points on Friday due to profit booking in banking, IT, and energy shares in the pre-close session.

The 30-shares index had opened higher and touched a high of 57,975.48 amid a firm trend in global markets. However, the barometer succumbed to heavy profit-booking at the fag-end, dropping to the day's low of 56,902.30 points.

The BSE index finally closed at 57,060.87, showing a loss of 460.19 points or 0.80 per cent over the previous close. As many as 23 Sensex stocks ended in the red.

The NSE Nifty tanked 142.50 points or 0.83 per cent to 17,102.55.

Axis Bank was the biggest loser among Sensex scrips, declining by 6.57 per cent. The bank has reported a 49.77 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter.

NTPC dropped by 3.82 per cent, Power Grid by 3.42 per cent, Wipro by 2.59 per cent, Titan by 2.19 per cent and SBI by 2 per cent.

Among heavyweights, Reliance declined 1.01 per cent, and TCS and Infosys by nearly 1 per cent.

In contrast, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and Dr Reddy were among the gainers.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 1.91 per cent to $109.65 per barrel. The rupee appreciated by 11 paise to close at 76.50 against the US dollar on Friday.