Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled over 440 points and the NSE Nifty cracked below the psychological 15,000-level on Friday due to profit booking in financials and IT stocks in line with relentless sell-offs in global equities as US bond market turmoil continued to rattle investors.
The 30-share BSE barometer declined by 440.76 points or 0.87 per cent to close at 50,405.32, continuing its falling trend for the second day due to concerns over bond yields. 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.
Over the last two sessions, the Sensex has shed 1,039.33 points or 2.02 per cent and the Nifty has lost 307.5 points or 2.01 per cent. However, on weekly basis, the Sensex gained 1,305.33 points or 2.65 per cent and the Nifty added 408.95 points or 2.81 per cent.
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.
Foreign investors had offloaded equities worth Rs 223.11 crore on a net basis in Indian capital markets on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Among sectoral indices, 17 closed in the red and two indices in the green on Friday.
BSE metal fell the most by 2.16 per cent, followed by power (1.80 per cent), telecom (1.77 per cent) and industrials (1.66 per cent).
Broader smallcap, midcap and largecap indices underperformed the benchmark plunging up to 1.89 per cent.
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 $68.11 per barrel.