By IANS
Mumbai : The Indian equities market ended in the red Friday on reports of surge in inflation to a three-year high. The Sensex ended nearly 500 points down. Banking stocks fell after concerns of possible Reserve Bank of India intervention to rein in inflation. Capital goods and power stocks declined.
With mixed cues from other Asian markets, Indian equities started the day with a positive gap but soon slipped into the red. Then the negative news of an inflation surge further dampened investor sentiment.
The Sensex, the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), opened at 15,896.09 points and notched a high of 15,896.09 before closing at 15,343.12. It went down by 489.43 points or 3.09 percent compared to Thursday’s close.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P Nifty, which opened at 4,766.70 points, closed at 4,647.00, after touching the day’s high of 4791.70. It went down by 124.60 points or 2.61 percent, compared to the previous close.
The BSE Midcap index, which closed at 6,262.85 points, was down by 124.38 points or 1.95 percent.
The BSE Smallcap index, which closed at 7,714.99 points, slid by 125.30 points or 1.60 percent.
On BSE, the market breadth was negative with low trading volumes: 808 shares advanced, 1,823 declined and 66 maintained status quo.
The top gainers of the day were Ranbaxy labs at Rs.458.25 up by 2.55 percent and Tata Steel at Rs.660.70 that gained 0.17 percent.
The top losers of the day included BHEL at Rs.1634.10 down by 6.29 percent, Mahindra and Mahindra at Rs.605.15 down by 6.00 percent and Larsen and Toubro at Rs.2686.35 down by 5.74 percent.