Sensex today closes 330 points down, Nifty at 11,900; YES Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank top gainers

Equity benchmark indices, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, closed sharply lower on Friday. Sensex closed 330.13 points down or 0.81% in the red at 40323.61, while the Nifty closed 103.80 points lower or 0.86% at 11908.20. YES Bank, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank were the top gainers while the top losers included Sun Pharma, Vedanta and ONGC.

On Thursday, Sensex fell 0.29 percent to 40,540 points after closing on a record high the previous day. The NSE Nifty 50 also opened 0.32 percent lower, at 11,973 points, while the broader market index, represented by the NSE Nifty 500 also fell about 0.23 percent.

During early hours on Friday, investors reacted negatively to Moody`s changing India`s outlook to negative from stable. The agency, however, affirmed the Baa2 rating. Moody`s decision reflects increasing risks that economic growth will remain lower than in the past. 

At 10 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 76 points at 40,577 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 25 points to 11,988. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty pharma down by 0.7 per cent and FMCG by 0.4 per cent.'

Among top loser stocks were UPL, Bharti Infratel, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and GAIL. Yes Bank gained by 2.5 per cent while ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank ticked up by 1.7 per cent each.

Asian stocks rallied to near record highs after China's statement that it has agreed with the United States to cancel tariffs in phases. MSCI`s gauge of stocks across the globe rose slightly to stand at 543.70 while Tokyo`s Nikkei jumped 0.75 per cent to a 13-month high.