Sensex tumbles over 460 points on selling in energy, banking stocks

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close down by over 0.8% due to fag-end selling in Axis Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys.

The 30-share BSE benchmark plummeted 460.19 points or 0.80% to end at 57,060.87 despite a firm opening. During the day, it hit a high of 57,975.48 and a low of 56,902.30.

The NSE Nifty tanked 142.50 points or 0.83% to 17,102.55. Axis Bank, Power Grid, Wipro, State Bank of India, Maruti, Titan and NTPC were among the major laggards from the Sensex pack.

Shares of Axis Bank tumbled 6.57% a day after the company reported a 49.77% jump in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter.

In contrast, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and Dr Reddy’s were among the gainers.

Asian markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul registered sharp gains. Markets in Europe were also trading in the green in the afternoon session.

Stocks in the U.S. had ended with significant gains on Thursday. The BSE benchmark had jumped 701.67 points or 1.23% to end at 57,521.06 on Thursday. The Nifty rallied 206.65 points or 1.21% to 17,245.05.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 1.91% to $109.65 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers after their continuous selling spree for the past many days, as they bought shares worth ₹743.22 crore on Thursday, according to stock exchange data.