Mumbai: Witnessing a gap-down opening, equity benchmark Sensex plummeted nearly 1,200 points in early trade on Friday tracking massive global sell off fuelled by concerns over economic recovery and a second coronavirus wave in the US.
The BSE Sensex was trading 1,190.27 points low at 32,348.10. Similarly, the NSE Nifty fell 274 points to trade at 9,628.
The fall was also seen before the GST Council Meeting to be held at 11 am.
IndusInd Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, tumbling around 6 per cent, followed by ONGC, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Finance and HDFC.
On the other hand, Sun Pharma was the sole gainer.
Read more:GST payers seek relief ahead of crucial GST Council meeting
According to analysts, negative cues from global markets, foreign fund outflow and rising coronavirus cases continued to hit domestic investor sentiment.
Stock exchanges on Wall Street sank up to 6 per cent in overnight trade as coronavirus cases in the US increased again, deflating recent optimism for a quick economic recovery.
Market mood was also dampened after Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell signalled the US economy would take some time to bounce back from the COVID-19 crisis, analysts said.
Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul plunged up to 2 per cent.
International oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 1.53 per cent to USD 37.96 per barrel.
(With PTI Inputs)
