Sensex drops 370 points to 27,800 in opening session; Nifty tumbles 100 points to 8,100

MUMBAI: The Indian equity markets continued their journey southwards and tanked further despite a bounce back in crude oil prices and global stocks. According to reports, Sensex dropped 370 points to 27,800 in the opening session on Friday, while Nifty tumbled nearly 100 points to 8,100.

Among individual stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank was again the top loser after slipping 7 per cent. 

Besides, IndusInd Bank dipped another 5 per cent while both ICICI Bank and HDFC were down 4 per cent each. Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services indexes, both down over 3 per cent, were the top sectoral losers.

Crude prices posted their biggest-one day gains on record on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said he expects Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut oil output by as much as 10 million to 15 million barrels. Brent futures rose 21 per cent to settle at $29.94 a barrel.

Following the surge in oil, world equity markets climbed on Thursday. On the Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.24 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 2.28 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.72 per cent.