Widespread profit-booking hammered stocks for the second straight session on Friday, with the Sensex tanking 746 points and the Nifty crashing below the 14,400-mark.
A day after touching the historic 50,000-level, the Sensex found it tough to sustain itself at higher levels as investors offloaded Reliance Industries ahead of its results, while banking and finance counters also bore the brunt of heavy selling amid lacklustre global cues.
The 30-share BSE benchmark tumbled 746.22 points or 1.50 per cent to finish at 48,878.54, posting its largest single-session drop in a month.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty slumped 218.45 points or 1.5 per cent to 14,371.90.
Axis Bank was the biggest laggard among the Sensex constituents, skidding 4.63 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, SBI, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto stole the show by surging 10.45 per cent, a day after it reported a robust 23 per cent jump in profit after tax at Rs 1,556 crore for the three months ended December 2020. Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement, TCS, Bajaj Finserv and Infosys were the other gainers, advancing up to 1.76 per cent.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex slipped 156.13 points or 0.31 per cent, while the Nifty shed 61.8 points or 0.42 per cent. “Indian indices tumbled in afternoon trade dragged by weak global markets and selling seen in metal and banking indices. Positive outlook for auto and IT stocks helped them to retain their momentum even during today’s correction.