Sensex Slumps 300 Points, Nifty Ends Below 16,500; Metal Shares Worst Hit

Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.

The Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on Friday mirroring losses in other global markets as double-whammy of worries about global growth and an end to central bank support drove nervous investors toward safe assets. The Sensex fell as much as 615 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 16,376.05. Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex. The Sensex fell 300 points to close at 55,329 and Nifty 50 index declined 118 points to end at 16,450. "Nifty trimmed some of its losses but managed to close below 16,500. From short-term perspective it will be crucial for Nifty to sustain above 16,500. Traders are advised to refrain from building new buying positions until we see further improvement in the market breadth. If Nifty is unable to sustain above 16,500 it can fall to 16,350," Ashis Biswas, head of technical research at CapitalVia Global Research told NDTV. Selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges, barring the measure of FMCG shares, ended lower led by the Nifty Metal index's over 6 per cent decline. Nifty Realty, Healthcare, Private Bank, Oil & Gas, PSU Bank, Auto and Bank indexes also fell between 1.5-4 per cent.