Sensex sinks 510 points on growing political, trade worries

The broader NSE Nifty dipped below the 10,200-mark to hit a low of 10,180.25 before ending at 10,195.15, down by 165 points, or 1.59 per cent.

The BSE Sensex on Friday dived almost 510 points -- its biggest single-day fall since February 6 -- to close at 33,176 due to a major sell-off amid global trade worries and political concerns after the TDP quit the NDA and moved a no-confidence notice against the government.

Other Asian markets were also in the negative zone as investors fret over the prospect of a global trade war, accelerating selling pressure on the domestic bourses, brokers said.

For the third straight week stocks ended in the red with the flagship Sensex recording a weekly fall of 131.14 points, or 0.39 per cent, and the NSE Nifty losing 31.70 points, or 0.30 per cent.

Sentiment suffered a setback following fresh development on the political front after a key NDA ally, TDP, decided to quit the alliance and moved a no-confidence motion notice against the government, accelerating the selling pace by participants, brokers said.

The Lok Sabha could not take up notices for no-confidence motion with Speaker Sumitra Mahajan saying there was no order in the House and adjourned the proceedings for the day.

"Market slid as investors continued to remain cautious amid current issues in the US administration on global trade and domestic political uncertainties," Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services said.

The 30-share Sensex tumbled by 509.54 points or 1.51 per cent, its biggest single day fall since February 6 when it had lost 561.22 points, to end at 33,176.

Intra-day, it shuttled between 33,119.92 and 33,691.32 as metal, oil & gas, PSU, power, auto and banking stocks recorded widespread losses.

The flagship index had lost 232.40 points in the previous three sessions.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped below the 10,200-mark to hit a low of 10,180.25 before ending at 10,195.15, down by 165 points, or 1.59 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors had sold shares worth Rs 705.40 crore on net basis on Thursday.

All the sectoral indices led by metal, oil & gas, energy, PSU, power and banking ended in the negative zone with losses of up to 2.30 per cent.

In the Sensex kitty, Tata Motors emerged the worst performer by slumping 3.67 per cent, followed by Asian Paint 3.09 per cent.

Other laggards include, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, ONGC, HDFC Ltd, L&T, Dr Reddy's, ITC Ltd, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, SBI and Coal India, plunging up to 2.89 per cent.

Bucking the trend, M&M, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever and Yes Bank ended in the green, rising up to 0.88 per cent.

In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap index fell by 1.07 per cent while the small-cap index shed 1 per cent.

Shares of Gitanjali Gems continued to be under selling pressure, falling 4.63 per cent to Rs 12.35.

In Asian region, Japan's Nikkei lost 0.58 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.12 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.65 per cent.

European markets, however, were in a slightly mixed form in their early deals. Paris CAC 40 was down 0.02 per cent, while Frankfurt's DAX was higher by 0.32 per cent.

London's FTSE too up 0.20 per cent.

Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters