Sensex cracks 341 pts as banks, IT drag; YES Bank falls 9%

New Delhi :The benchmark indices settled around 1 per cent lower on Friday, led by a fall in the banking, information technology (IT) and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks amid weakness in the Asian markets, which fell to a 20-month low.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 33,349, down 341 points, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,030, down 95 points.

Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty IT index fell 1.9 per cent due to a fall in the shares of Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HCL Technologies. The Nifty Bank index, too, declined 1.6 per cent weighed by YES Bank which fell 8.7 per cent after the private lender posted a fall of 3.8 per cent in net profit for the September quarter. The Nifty FMCG index settled 1.4 per cent lower dragged by ITC, which fell even as the company reported 11.92 per cent rise in standalone net profit to Rs 29.55 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2018.

Asian shares tumbled to 20-month lows and S&P futures fell sharply at the end of a turbulent week for financial markets on Friday, as anxiety over the outlook for U.S. corporate profits added to lingering fears about global trade and economic growth.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 1 per cent, erasing tiny gains made in the opening hour and hitting its lowest level since February 2017.

Chinese shares have been hit by volatility this week amid a string of official announcements and measures aimed at supporting the markets following a recent plunge. The heavy sell-off has raised concerns about risks posed by about $620 billion worth of shares pledged for loans. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was 1.05 per cent lower, with tech shares dropping 2.72 per cent. Tech firms also fell in South Korea, where the broader market slid 1.62 per cent, deepening losses after the Kospi closed at its lowest level since January 2017 on Thursday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)