Sensex, Nifty Drop Over 1% on Global Weakness

Mumbai, Sep 6 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty slumped over 1 per cent on Friday, tracking a weak trend in global markets and fresh foreign fund outflows.

Falling for the third day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 1,017.23 points or 1.24 per cent to settle at 81,183.93. During the day, it plunged 1,219.23 points or 1.48 per cent to 80,981.93.

The NSE Nifty dropped 292.95 points or 1.17 per cent to 24,852.15, its third day of decline.

Among the 30 Sensex firms, State Bank of India tanked over 4 per cent. NTPC, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and ITC were the other major laggards.

Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, JSW Steel and Maruti were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower.

European markets were trading in the red. The US markets ended mostly in the negative territory on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 688.69 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.14 per cent to USD 72.79 a barrel.

"The near-term trend in the market will be influenced by the US jobs data to be published tonight," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

On Thursday, the BSE benchmark failed to hold on to initial gains and declined 151.48 points or 0.18 per cent to settle at 82,201.16. The NSE Nifty dipped 53.60 points or 0.21 per cent to 25,145.10 despite a positive beginning of the trade.