Sensex, Nifty50 plunge 1% amid broad-based sell-off on D-Street; VIX surges

Domestic equity benchmarks fell one per cent each on Friday amid a broad-based sell-off where financial, IT, pharmaceutical and energy shares were the worst hit. The Sensex gave up 765.5 points to end at 79,857.8 while the Nifty50 settled at 24,363.3, down 232.9 points from its previous close. Quarterly results remained in the spotlight on Dalal Street while investors globally continued to weigh the impact of incoming tariffs on world economic growth.

Top Nifty 50 losers and gainers

In the Nifty50 basket, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Adani Enterprises, Shriram Finance, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Grasim -- falling between 1.9 per cent and 3.3 per cent for the day -- were the top losers.

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On the other hand, NTPC, Titan and Dr Reddy's Labs -- closing around 1-1.5 per cent higher -- rose the most among the nine gainers in the 50-blue-chip basket.

Top index movers | Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank biggest drags

Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank and Reliance were the biggest contributors to the losses in both main indices, though gains in NTPC and Titan lent some support.

Nifty Bank

The Nifty Bank -- whose 12 constituents include stocks of banking behemoths SBI and HDFC Bank -- plunged 516.3 points, or 0.9 per cent, to close at 55,004.9, dragged also by losses in ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

SBI shares weathered the storm, finishing almost unchanged at Rs 804.6, after the country's largest bank by assets beat analysts' expectations with its quarterly profit, though its net interest income missed the mark. More on SBI results

Financial stocks have a weightage of most 38 per cent in the Nifty50.

Volatility index India VIX -- also known popularly as the fear index -- jumped 3.0 per cent to settle at 12.03.

Investors awaited more corporate earnings from India Inc for domestic cues.

Midcap and smallcap stocks

Midcap and smallcap shares took heavy blows. Among broader indices, the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 plummeted 1.6 per cent and 1.5 per cent for the day, respectively.

Overall market breadth was extremely negative with five stocks falling for every three that rose on BSE.

Global markets

European shares began the day with cautious gains, with the pan-continental Stoxx 600 trading 0.3 per cent higher in the early hours. While the UK's FTSE 100 was flat, France's CAC was up 0.3 per cent and Germany's DAX was down 0.1 per cent.

Dow futures were up 135 points, or 0.3 per cent, suggesting a positive start ahead on Wall Street.