Markets falter for 6th day; Sensex tanks 425 points in early trade

Mumbai: Equity indices opened the trade on a muted note on Friday, with the Sensex tanking 425 points in early trade, in line with weak global markets and concerns over unabated foreign capital outflows.

The BSE benchmark was trading 425.11 points lower at 51,070.68. The Nifty dipped 125.7 points to 15,234.90.

From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Wipro, Dr Reddy's, Titan, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma and Maruti were the biggest laggards.

On the other hand, Reliance Industries and NTPC were the gainers.

In Asia, markets in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai were trading lower, while Hong Kong quoted higher.

Stock exchanges in the US ended sharply lower on Thursday.

The BSE benchmark plummeted 1,045.60 points or 1.99 per cent to settle at 51,495.79 on Thursday. On similar lines, the NSE Nifty plunged 331.55 points or 2.11 per cent to close at 15,360.60.

"The dominant theme impacting equity markets globally is the synchronised global monetary tightening and the consequent fears of economic slowdown," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.68 per cent to USD 118.98 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 3,257.65 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.