The overall market breadth was weak as 963 shares were advancing while 1,603 were declining on BSE.New Delhi: The Indian equity benchmarks continued to plunge for the fourth straight session on Friday amid weak global cues.
Both the indexes headed for their worst week since late-November.
Asian share markets and United States futures fell after United States stocks took a knock overnight, hurt by lingering concerns over the Federal Reserve's tightening and weaker-than-expected economic and earnings data.As of 9:25am, the 30-share BSE Sensex pack was down 722 points or 1.21 per cent at 58,743 and the broader NSE Nifty slumped 209 points or 1.18 per cent to 17,548.Mid- and small-cap shares were in the negative zone as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.82 per cent and small-cap shares were trading 0.77 per cent down.On the stock-specific front, Tech Mahindra was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 3 per cent to Rs 1,616.90.
Bajaj Finserv, Dr Reddy's , Infosys and Divi's Lab were also among the laggards.On the flipside, PowerGrid, Hindalco and BPCL were among the gainers.The overall market breadth was weak as 963 shares were advancing while 1,603 were declining on BSE.On the 30-share BSE platform, Bajaj Finserv, Dr Reddy's , Infosys, TechM, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank and Wipro attracted the most losses with their shares sliding as much as 3.10 per cent.Also, Reliance Industries, JSW Steel, HDFC Life Insurance and SBI Life Insurance slipped ahead of their earnings reports.PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever and NTPC were among the gainers.Sensex had slumped 634 points or 1.06 per cent to close at 59,465 on Thursday, while the broader NSE Nifty had settled 181 points or 1.01 per cent lower at 17,757.