It was a day of wealth destruction on Dalal Street as the benchmark equity indices witnessed the steepest percentage fall since November 2016. A couple of domestic as well as foreign factors weighed on market sentiment since morning.

Starting with weak global cues, sustained selling by foreign institutional investors and a sharp fall in the rupee dragged stocks lower.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed the day 447 points, or 1.38 per cent, down at 31,922, while the 50-share Nifty index lost 157 points, or 1.56 per cent, to close at 9,964. BSE’s total market capitalisation declined by Rs 2.73 lakh crore to Rs 133.36 lakh crore from Rs 136.09 lakh crore a day ago.

Here’s a look at top newsmakers of Friday’s session:

Metal stocks melt
Heavy selling in metal shares dragged the BSE Metal index down nearly 4 per cent. Jindal Steel and Power tumbled the most at 8.17 per cent, followed by National Aluminium (down 7.25 per cent), Hindalco (down 5.22 per cent), SAIL (down 5.16 per cent). Barring Coal India, other stocks in the BSE Metal index closed in the red. Metal prices fell globally amid heightened geopolitical tension in Asia and downgrading of China’s sovereign rating by S&P. China is the largest consumer of base metals in the world.



It’s a bonus for BHEL investors
State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals, India’s largest power equipment maker, announced issue of bonus shares in the ratio of 1 share for every 2 shares held. However, shares of the company closed 2.52 per cent down at Rs 129.75.



20 stocks@fresh 52-week low
Around 20 stocks hit fresh 52-week lows on NSE. The list included Gammon India, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Usher Agro, Sangam (India) and Zensar Technologies.



New listing on bourses
Reliance Home Finance (RHFL), the housing finance unit of Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Capital, made a smart debut on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE. The scrip hit the 5 per cent upper circuit limit at Rs 109.20 on BSE. Likewise, it also closed 5 per cent higher at Rs 107.20 on NSE.



Most active stocks
Jaiprakash Associates was among the most active stocks in terms of traded volume . It was followed by Reliance Communications, South Indian Bank, GMR Infra, Unitech, JP Power and ITI.



Spurt in open interest
Reliance Capital witnessed the biggest spike in open interest at 15.22 per cent, followed by Ajanta Pharma (14.80 per cent), Canara Bank (14.01 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (14.01 per cent).



Stocks that shone
Safari Industries traded ex-share split after the stock was divided into units of face value Rs 2 from Rs 10 each. The stock jumped over 13 per cent after the board members approved raising of up to Rs 51 crore by way of preferential share issue. The scrip closed 13.09 per cent higher at Rs 400.