Sensex, Nifty Deep Down In Negative Territory After Weak Start

Indian shares plunged sharply in early trades Friday as investors pressed sales almost across the board, tracking overnight setback on Wall Street amid worries about global economic growth.

Continued surge in coronavirus cases and worries about its impact on the economy triggered the sell-off this morning. Metal, realty, information technology, energy, banking and capital goods stocks are down with sharp losses.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex plunged 600 points to a low of 38,299.12, and despite recovering some lost ground subsequently, is still down as much as 435.01 points or 1.1 percent at 38,555.93.

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty, which tumbled to 11,332.85, losing nearly 200 points in the process, is down 121.55 points or 1.05 percent at 11,405.90.

Kotak Bank, HDFC and State Bank of India are down nearly 2 percent. ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are both lower by about 1.75 percent. ITC, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid and Tata Steel are down 1.4 to 1.6 percent.

Tata Motors is lower by 1.4 percent. Energy Efficiency Services Limited said that it will buy 250 electric vehicles from Tata Motors and Hyundai Motor India.

Reliance Industries shares are down by about 1.25 percent. Reliance Industries said Reliance Retail is in advanced talks with American private equity investor Silver Lake to sell 1.7 to 1.8% stake in the entity for about Rs 7,500 crore.

Bharti Infratel is moving up nearly 4.5 percent. Maruti Suzuki is gaining about 1.5 percent and Britannia Industries is up 1.2 percent, while Asian Paints, Cipla, Hero Motocorp and Sun Pharma are up with modest gains.

Panacea Biotec shares are down nearly 2 percent after the company's loss widened to Rs 33.11 crore in the first quarter of this year. The company had posted a loss of Rs 26.51 crore in the year-ago quarter. Revenue was up marginally at Rs 132.76 crore from Rs 125.78 crore.