Jittery ahead of B-Day, Sensex drops 589 points

Equity benchmark indices swung between gains and losses in an extremely volatile trade on Friday as investors awaited the presentation of Union Budget next week.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 589 points or 1.26 per cent at 46,285 while the Nifty 50 lowered by 183 points or 1.32 per cent to 13,635.

Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty auto plunging by 2.9 per cent, IT by 2.6 per cent, metal by 1.9 per cent and pharma by 1.8 per cent.

Among stocks, Dr Reddy's was down by 5.3 per cent to Rs 4,613.55 per share. Auto majors suffered a blow with Maruti Suzuki skidding by 4.8 per cent, Hero MotoCorp by 3.7 per cent and Bajaj Auto by 2.7 per cent.

Tata Steel cracked by 3.3 per cent, JSW Steel by 2.9 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 3.2 per cent, NTPC by 3.1 per cent and Wipro by 2.7 per cent.

However, IndusInd Bank gained by 6.1 per cent to Rs 851.90 per share while ICICI Bank rose by 2 per cent and HDFC Bank by 1.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were for their steepest weekly loss in months as a liquidity squeeze in China and a Wall Street retail trading frenzy unnerved investors.

Japan's Nikkei was down by 1.89 per cent and Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lowered by 0.94 per cent. South Korea's Kospi cracked by 3.03 per cent.