Sensex skids over 650 points amid across the board sell-off; Nifty below 11,350

NEW DELHI: Markets started on a lower note with the benchmark BSE sensex plunging over 650 points on Friday tracking global peers amid across the board sell-off. Sensex dived 651 points or 1.67 per cent to 38,341; while the broader NSE Nifty moved 185 points or 1.60 per cent lower to 11,343.
Major laggards in the BSE pack included Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Nestle India and Sun Pharma with their stocks sliding as much as 0.27 per cent.
On the NSE platform, all the sub-indices were trading in red with Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Bank down as much as 2.39 per cent.
Sensex had ended 95 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 38,991 in the previous session; while Nifty had closed 8 points or 0.07 per cent down at 11,527.
On the global front, Asia’s stock markets had their worst session in two weeks on Friday following a tech-led plunge on Wall Street, though gains in safer assets like bonds and dollars were muted as investors awaited US job data to see if it triggers a bigger sell-off.
“It was steady rather than panic selling throughout,” ING’s regional head of research Rob Carnell told news agency Reuters.
“It just doesn’t sound or feel like anything other than a bit of profit taking ... if this was a massive risk-off move, you’d have expected the dollar to rally, and it didn’t really.”
(With agency inputs)