Sensex tumbles 260 points, Nifty closes above 9,000

New Delhi: Market ended in red on Friday led by losses in financial and banking sector.

The BSE Sensex tumbled 260.31 points or 0.84 percent to end at 30,672.59. On the other hand the NSE Nifty dropped 67 points or 0.74 percent to close at 9,039.25.

Major gainers in the Sensex pack were M&M, Infosys, Asian Paints, Ultrachem, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, Heromotocorp, TCS, Kotak Bank, HUL, Sun Pharma and NTPC, rising upto 4.46 percent. On the other hand top laggards were, Axis Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Power grid, ITC, ONGC and HCL Tech, falling upto 5.65 percent.

The host of announcements made by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das failed to enthuse investors. Among the major announcements, Das said that RBI has slashed the repo rate by 40 bps to 4%. The reverse repo rate was also reduced by 40 basis points to 3.35%. The Central Bank has reduced the key policy rate for the second time this year.

Shaktikanta Das addressed a press conference announcing measures to ease the financial stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is his third press conference (the other two being on March 27 and April 17).

Among other major announcements, he also said that loan moratorium will be extended by 3 more months to August 31.