Bloodbath on stock market; Sensex sheds over 800 points

Stocks of banking, capital goods, auto, consumer durables, oil and gas, and metals witnessed a huge sell-off.

New Delhi: Stock market witnessed a bloodbath on Friday with the Sensex crashing by over 840 points -- its biggest single-day fall in two-and-a-half years -- while the NSE Nifty ended below the 10,800-mark as the post-Budget sell-off continued for the second straight day

Market sentiments also took a hit after Fitch Ratings said weak public finances constrain India's sovereign ratings.

Widespread was seen across realty, consumer durables, power, capital goods and banking sectors, which fell up to 5.17 percent.

Stocks had opened down as the government's proposal to impose a 10 percent long term capital gains tax on equity gains of over Rs 1 lakh hit triggered profit booking in frontline stocks.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley projected a fiscal deficit of 3.5 percent of GDP for current fiscal against the earlier target of 3.2 percent which also dampened the market sentiment.

Banking stocks led by Yes Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, HDFC LTD and IndusInd Bank suffered losses up to 3.80 percent.

Other losers that pulled down the key indices from their crucial levels were ONGC, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Hero Motocop, Power Grid, Coal India, Asian Paints, Reliance Ind, Coal India.

On Thursday, the Nifty50 fell by 10.80 points or 0.10 percent to 11,016.90 points, while the Sensex closed at 35,906.66 points -- down 58.36 points or 0.16 percent.

With Agency Inputs