Sensex Falls 202 Points, Nifty Ends Below 14,350 As FMCG, IT Shares Drag

Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty FMCG Index's 1 per cent fall.

The Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Friday dragged by weakness in index heavyweights like Infosys, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and Mahindra & Mahindra. Investor sentiment was dented by rising Coronavirus infections, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 411 points to hit an intraday low of 47,669.55 and Nifty 50 index briefly fell below its important psychological level of 14,300. The Sensex ended 202 points lower at 47,878 and Nifty 50 index dropped 65 points or 0.45 per cent to close at 14,341. Total cases of the novel coronavirus in India rose by another record of 332,730, while a record 2,263 people had died in the last 24 hours, as hospitals struggled to arrange oxygen supplies and intensive care beds for patients. "As the rise in cases spreads from major cities to Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, near-lockdown seems to be the only solution... there is uncertainty in the market surrounding the impact of the larger second wave on future earnings," S Krishnakumar, an independent market analyst told news agency Reuters.