The 50-share Nifty, after hitting an intra-day low of 7626, closed the day at 7655 points, down 167.95 or 2.15%. The BSE Sensex closed 2.18% lower or 562.88 points down at at 25201.90, which is a more than 13-month low.
Equities ended sharply lower on Friday with benchmark indices shedding over 2% from their previous close.
The 50-share Nifty, after hitting an intra-day low of 7626, closed the day at 7655 points, down 167.95 or 2.15%. The BSE Sensex closed 2.18% lower or 562.88 points down at at 25201.90, which is a more than 13-month low.
Even though the European Central Bank announced on Thursday it would maintain its near zero rate and continue to pump in $68 billion per month in bond buying, the US jobless data posting a sharp decline of 5.1% points towards a likely Fed rate hike in mid September, market analysts said.
“There are no clear emerging signals on Fed rate hike yet. But I strongly feel, US could push the hike by another quarter,” said a senior research analyst at a foreign bank.
“Unless there are major announcements by China on measures to boost its slowdown, the markets would remain under a bearish spell,” he added.
In early trades, Dow Jones was down 269 points or 1.65% from Thursday's close at 16102.
Market players expect the markets to mirror global trends on Monday, unless some positive cues emerge from China. “The Dow Jones closing today and the Asian market trends on Monday will set the tone in the coming week,” said a fund manager on Friday at the time when the US markets were open.
“If the indices are deeper in the red, one could see Nifty breaching the current support levels of 7500-7600,” he added.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of equities in the domestic market. They sold 1287.12 crore worth of equities in the cash market while domestic institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1128.70 crore.
Of the fifty stocks on the Nifty, four stocks advanced while 46 declined. Major gainers were BPCL (1.47%), Coal India (1.07%), Bharti Airtel (1.01%) and Lupin (0.30%).
Major losers were Vedanta (4.99%), GAIL (4.94%), Tata Power (4.84%), Tata Steel (4.72%), and Hindalco (4.47%).
Shares of realty, power, banking, healthcare, IT, metal, auto, capital goods and refinery sectors fell sharply. Small-cap and mid-cap shares also declined sharply by 2.47% and 1.90% on selling from retail investors.
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