The benchmark indices were trading in the red in the afternoon on Friday, witnessing significant selling pressure.

After opening on a firm note amid mixed global cues, the market erased all its opening gains, dragged by metals, power and oil & gas stocks. The indices managed to erase some of their intra-day losses, but continued to trade lower during the first half.

At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was at 52,007.39, down 315.94 points or 0.60 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of 52,586.41 and a low of 51,601.11.

The Nifty 50 was at 15,584.35, down 107.05 points or 0.68 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of 15,761.50 and a low of 15,450.90.

Adani Ports, Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Unilever, Divi’s labs and Cipla were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while JSW Steel, Tata Steel, UPL, Coal India and ONGC were the top laggards.

Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, CapitalVia Global Research Ltd said, “In the early session, Indian equities indexes lost over a per cent due to selling in the frontline counters.”

“Lockdowns implemented by states in April and May to prevent the second wave of the fatal Covid-19 epidemic are likely to have caused the economy to drop by 12 per cent in the June quarter, compared to a 23.9 per cent contraction in the previous quarter, according to a private analysis. Traders also noted the Reserve Bank's assessment, which stated that the disastrous second wave of the coronavirus epidemic in April-May cost the country Rs 2 lakh crore in terms of output,” added Garg.

Metals, PSU bank stocks under pressure

On the sectoral front, all indices except Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma were in the red.

Metals and financials remained under pressure. Nifty PSU Bank recorded the highest losses and was down 3.04 per cent. Nifty Metal was down 2.83 per cent.

Meanwhile, Nifty FMCG was trading flat, up 0.02 per cent. Nifty Pharma managed to retain some gains and was up 0.15 per cent.

Broader indices shed 2%

All the broader indices were also in the red as the market witnessed across-the-board selling. The broader indices witnessed higher selling pressure, shedding 2 per cent on the NSE.

The Nifty Midcap 50 was down 2.06 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 2.09 per cent.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Midcap was down 1.40 per cent, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 1.57 per cent.

The volatility index rose 0.60 per cent to 15.38.

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