Sensex shrugs off GDP rebound, sinks 316 pts

The BSE benchmark Sensex dived 316 points to close below the 33,000-mark, while the broader Nifty declined 104.75 points to 10,121.80.

It was a forgettable week for both the key indices, with the Sensex recording a fall of 846.30 points, or 2.51 per cent and the NSE Nifty losing 267.90 points, or 2.57 per cent.

"Despite data pointing to an improvement in the macro- economic environment, participants remained cautious and chose to sell stocks in the latter half of the trading day," said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

The 30-share benchmark, after scaling a high of 33,300.81 in early deals, slipped into the negative zone to touch 32,797.78, before settling at 32,832.94, down 316.41 points, or 0.95 per cent.

This was its weakest closing since November 15, when it had finished at 32,760.44

The 50-issue NSE Nifty too cracked the 10,200-mark and hit a low of 10,108.55 before finishing 104.75 points, or 1.02 per cent down at 10,121.80.

Reversing a five-quarter slide in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, the economy bounced back from a three-year low to expand by 6.3 per cent in July-September as manufacturing revved up and businesses adjusted to the new GST tax regime, data released after market hours yesterday showed.

However, participants remained risk-averse as India's fiscal deficit at the end of October hit 96.1 per cent of the budget estimate for 2017-18, mainly due to lower revenue realisation and rise in expenditure.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth net Rs 1,500.76 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares to the tune of Rs 1,202.57 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Small and mid-cap indices fell 1.16 per cent and 0.95 per cent in Friday's session, respectively. The session saw buying in select auto stocks such as Maruti Suzuki, TVS Motor and Ashok Leyland, buoyed by encouraging sales data for November.