Sensex slumps 778 points on rising Omicron cases

Key indices of the Indian equities markets fell sharply on Friday dragged by across-the-board selling pressure as rising Omicron cases hit investors' sentiments. The benchmark Sensex slumped over 700 points while the Nifty 50 slipped 1.4 per cent.

Auto, banking, and financial stocks slumped on concern that fast-spreading Omicron cases would derail the economic recovery. IndusInd Bank and Titan plunged over 3 per cent. The selling pressure is across-the-board as 12 of the 30 scrips that are part of the Sensex were trading more than 2 per cent lower than their previous day's close.

The benchmark Sensex opened in the positive 58,021.63 points against the previous day's close at 57,901.14 points. However, the selling pressure gripped the market from early trade itself and the Sensex plunged to 57,122.56 points at around 11.50 am, which is 1.34 per cent or 778.58 points lower than its previous day close.

The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange tumbled to 17,007.95 points, which is 1.39 per cent lower than its previous day's close at 17,248.40 points.

Only three of the 30 scrips that are part of the benchmark Sensex were trading in the positive. Infosys rose sharply for the second straight day after it announced plans to acquire Singtel's delivery centre in Malaysia. Infosys was trading 3.08 per cent higher at Rs.1825.90. HCL Technologies 1.05 per cent higher at Rs.1172.60 and TCS 0.38 per cent higher at Rs.3595 were the only three Sensex scrips trading in positive.

IndusInd Bank 3.31 per cent lower at Rs.898, Titan 3.09 per cent down at Rs.2284.40; Hindustan Unilever 2.83 per cent down at Rs.2244.35; Bajaj Finserv 2.8 per cent down at Rs.16243.10 and Kotak Bank 2.71 per cent down at Rs.1809.95 were among the major Sensex losers.

( With inputs from ANI )

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