Sensex & Nifty snap 2-day rally in a volatile session with realty & healthcare major drag

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty surrendered early gains to close with losses in a volatile session on Friday, snapping their two-day winning streak as investors pared exposure to realty, oil & gas and healthcare stocks amid a mixed trend in global markets. Unabated foreign fund outflows also dented investor sentiment.

After swinging between gains and losses, the 30-share BSE benchmark dropped 329.92 points or 0.43 per cent to settle at 76,190.46. During the day, it slumped 428.63 points or 0.56 per cent to 76,091.75.

The NSE Nifty declined 113.15 points or 0.49 per cent to 23,092.20.

On a weekly basis, the BSE index declined 428.87 points or 0.55 per cent, and the Nifty dipped 111 points or 0.47 per cent.

From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Zomato, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports and Bajaj Finserv were among the major laggards.

On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.

The BSE smallcap gauge dropped 2.23 per cent, and the midcap index declined 1.60 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty tanked 2.50 per cent, oil & gas went lower by 2.30 per cent, industrials (2.22 per cent), energy (1.95 per cent), capital goods (1.89 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.79 per cent) and auto (1.69 per cent).

Teck and BSE Focused IT were the gainers.

FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 5,462.52 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.27 per cent to $78.50 a barrel.

The rupee appreciated 22 paise to close at 86.22 against the US dollar on Friday.

In the previous session, Sensex rose 115.39 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 76,520.38. The Nifty went up by 50 points or 0.22 per cent to end at 23,205.35. PTI