Sensex Sheds Over 400 Points, Nifty Slips Below 14,800

Asian shares slipped on Friday; MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.5 per cent, with both Japan and China falling ahead of a long weekend

The domestic stock markets have opened deeply in the red, after four successive days of gains, due to profit-booking at higher levels as the daily Covid-cases inched closer to the 4 lakh mark. At 9:18 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 49,331.35, lower by 431.55 points or 0.8 per cent and the NSE Nifty was at 14,776.50, down 108.63 points or 0.74 per cent. The BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices were, however trading flat. Meanwhile, India posted a record daily rise in coronavirus cases of 386,452 on Friday, while deaths from COVID-19 jumped by 3,498 over the last 24 hours, according to health ministry data. Asian shares slipped on Friday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.5 per cent, with both Japan and China falling ahead of a long weekend; the two markets will be closed through Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4 per cent and China's CSI 300 lost 0.5 per cent in early trade. Overnight, the S&P 500 closed at a record high on Thursday, fueled by gains in Facebook following its strong earnings report, while investors awaited upcoming results from Amazon. The Dow Jones rose 0.71 per cent and S&P 500 gained 0.64 per cent.