Indices Sustain Drop, Sensex Slips 300 Points; Nifty Auto Rises 2%

Nifty sectoral indices were in the red, except Nifty Auto index, which was trading 2 per cent higher.

The Sensex and Nifty continued their opening losses and slipped over half a per cent in Friday’s noon transactions, dragged mostly by private banks and Reliance Industries.

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 300 points to 49,300 and the Nifty 50 index fell under 14,550. Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, and Asian Paints fell 2 per cent each and were the top Sensex losers. Reliance Industries (RIL) also slipped 1 per cent ahead of its Q3 earnings results later today. However, Bajaj Auto rose as much as 8 per cent on the back of nearly 5 per cent jump in Q3 net profit.

The two-wheeler maker’s profit in October-December period rose 23 per cent to Rs 1,556 crore against Rs 1,262 crore during the same quarter last year.

SBI Card gained as much as 4 per cent while Biocon fell 9 per cent after announcing their December third quarter results.

All the Nifty sectoral indices were in the red, except Nifty Auto index, which was trading 2 per cent higher.

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes edged lower on Friday owing to weakness in banking and IT stocks. However, the losses were capped on the back of buying in auto shares a day after Bajaj Auto’s quarterly profit results.

The Sensex fell as much as 177 points to 49,447 and Nifty 50 index briefly fell below its important psychological level of 14,550.