By IANS
Mumbai : Indian equity markets ended deep in the red Friday, with the benchmark index shedding over 500 points, marching in step with downward global trends on the back of heavy selling in key sectors.
The markets that opened in the red and within 15 minutes plummeted by more than 500 points continued to nosedive on reports that inflation had risen to 5.29 percent against 4.89 percent last week.
Investors reacted to the news by heavily unloading realty, banking, consumer goods and oil and gas stocks, notching up the lowest closing figure in the past one year.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 16,211.96 points and only went down, before closing at 15,975.52 points. It lost 566.56 points or 3.42 percent at the day’s close.
The S&P CNX Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which opened at 4,918.30 points, closed at 4,771.60, a fall of 149.80 points or 3.04 percent.
The BSE Midcap index, which closed at 6,804.39, went down 309.79 points or 4.35 percent. The BSE Smallcap index, which closed at 8,809.79, went down 400.61 points or 4.55 percent.
On BSE, the market breadth was extremely low with low trading volumes. A total of 295 shares advanced, 2,384 declined and 31 remained unchanged.
Other Asian markets also closed in the red Friday.
The top gainers of the day included Reliance Communications at Rs.543.35, up 2.99 percent, Hindustan Unilever Ltd at Rs.226.65, up 0.49 percent and Bharti Airtel at Rs.751.30, up 0.15 percent.
The top losers of the day at BSE were Reliance Energy at Rs.1,270.00, down 12.98 percent, Bajaj Auto at Rs.1889.15, down 11.23 percent, ICICI Bank at Rs.892.75, down 7.04 percent and Larsen & Toubro at Rs.2,988.20, down 6.64 percent.