Sensex drops nearly 160 points, Nifty closes below 10,660

New Delhi: Markets recovered major losses in the last hour of trade but ended the day in red.

Sensex fell about 315 points in the afternoon trade today on weak global cues amid US-China trade tensions. Intense selling pressure was witnessed in select counters, led by metal, realty and power stocks.

At close, Sensex fell 159.07 points or 0.45 percent to 35,264.41. The broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange closed down at 57 points or 0.53 percent to 10,657.30.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints, Infosys, Vedanta, Bajaj Auto and ICICI Bank whereas Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC Bank were the major losers.

On the NSE, Infosys, Asian Paints and Titan were the highest gainers while Bharti Airtel, NTPC and Hindalco Industries lost the most.

Sensex touched a high of 35,578.24 points and a low of 35,106.57 during the intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth was bearish with 1,658 declines and 940 advances.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 157.15 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of Rs 2,262.83 crore on Friday, as per provisional data. 

With Agency Inputs