Sensex falls 580 points to close at 43,600; Nifty ends below 12,800 – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Equity indices finished lower on Thursday with the benchmark BSE sensex falling over 550 points dragged by banking and financial stocks amid negative cues from global markets.
The 30-share BSE index fell 580 points or 1.31 per cent to close at 43,600; while the broader NSE Nifty settled 167 points or 1.29 per cent lower at 12,772.
SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Ultra Cemco, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel were the top losers in the sensex pack falling up to 4.88 per cent.
While Power Grid, ITC, NTPC, Tata Steel, TCS, Titan were the top gainers rising as much as 2.78 per cent.
On the NSE platform, sub-indices Nifty Bank, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Financial Services fell as much as 3.10 per cent.
Global stocks were mostly lower after Wall Street slid amid anxiety over the economic fallout from rising coronavirus infections in the United States and Europe.
US markets closed lower as decision to close public school system by New York City officials to contain virus dampened investors’ sentiments despite positive announcement made by Pfizer about improved efficacy of its vaccine candidate along with BioNTech.
However, underlying strength in domestic markets continues to look good and any meaningful downside will be used as an opportunity to buy quality stocks, said Arjun Yash Mahajan, head institutional business at Reliance Securities told news agency PTI.
“Decision by the New York City officials raised concerns about whether more states may opt for economic restrictions due to rapid rise in new Covid-19 cases,” Mahajan added.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 3,071.93 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.
(With agency inputs)