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The Sensex and the Nifty fell nearly 1 per cent on Friday to their lowest close in two months, as fears of a China-led deceleration in global growth and escalating tension between South Korea and North Korea gripped markets.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended down by 241.75 points or 0.88 per cent at 27,366.07 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended lower by 72.8 points or 0.87 per cent at 8,299.95, marking their lowest close since June 19.
Both the Sensex and the Nifty recovered from the day's lows on media reports that the government was in favour of giving relief to foreign investors straddled with minimum alternate tax claims prior to April 1.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index plunged the most by 2.55 per cent, followed by auto 2.07 per cent, capital goods 1.76 per cent and banking 1.28 per cent. On the other hand, IT index was up 0.37 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.11 per cent and healthcare 0.02 per cent.
Top five Sensex losers were VEDL (-3.81%), Bajaj Auto (-3.4%), Hero MotoCorp (-2.81%), GAIL (-2.75%) and Tata Motors (-2.73%), while the major gainers were Hindalco (+1.24%), Infosys (+1.09%), HUL (+0.93%), Cipla (+0.87%) and Sun Pharma (+0.28%).
Th e rupee too touched a low of 65.91 per dollar , the lowest since September 2013, tracking sell-off in other Asian currencies.
"We've broken crucial levels, we could see a small pullback next week but sustainability is going to be a big question mark," said Gaurang Shah, Vice-President at Geojit BNP Paribas.
"No positive news flows either from global or local markets should keep the markets suppressed."
Global markets
European shares fell sharply on Friday, tracking a drop in Asian equity markets and US stock futures after a survey showed Chinese factories contracted at their fastest pace since the global financial crisis in 2009.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 was down 1.6 per cent at 1,453.62 by 0703 GMT, hitting its lowest level since January and set for its biggest weekly fall of the year.
Global stocks tumbled on Friday after a survey showed Chinese factories contracted at their fastest pace since the depth of the global financial crisis in 2009, sending investors scurrying to the safety of bonds and gold.
The S&P 500 hit a more than six-month low on Thursday, closing in negative territory for the year, on concern a deceleration in the Chinese economy would translate into slower global growth.
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