Profit-taking halts market’s defiant upward momentum

After four days of gains, the Sensex plunged 983.58 points on profit- taking, limiting the otherwise handsome weekly gains by 1.98 per cent.

Fearing more economic disruptions from lockdowns, mixed results in the May 2 counting of assembly election votes, April auto sales number to be released on May 1 and shortage of vaccine, traders avoided taking risks, even as the global cues were not positive.

The Sensex closed at

48,782.36 while the Nifty50 fell 263.80 points to close at 14,631.10.

Foreign portfolio investors were net sellers of equities worth Rs 3,465.07, making it the biggest single day selling this month. The domestic institutions were net buyers by Rs 1,419.31 crore.

FPIs were net sellers of equities worth Rs 9,659 crore in April, reversing the six-month trend.

Banks and financials were the biggest losers on Friday, as the Nifty Bank Index fell 2.77 per cent, followed by Nifty Auto

(1.36 per cent) and Nifty FMCG (1.13 per cent).

Pharma stocks bucked the trend and Nifty Pharma index gained 1.28 per cent. PSU stocks also fared better as Nifty CPSE index closed 1.48 per cent up.

NSE's India VIX index climbed 1.19 per cent to

23.03 indicating more volatility ahead.

"Global cues were weak following a softer-thanexpected survey of

China’s manufacturing and some earnings disappointments. Nifty witnessed sharp selloff, amidst weak global cues and exit polls of state elections indicating mixed results. Shortage of vaccines dented market sentiments,”said Siddhartha

Khemka, head-retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

"The market has exhibited a lot of fear before the outcome of the elections," said Shrikant Chouhan, EVP-equity technical research, Kotak Securities.