Closing Bell: Sensex falls 714 points, Nifty closes at 17,172

Breaking the two-day gaining streak equity benchmarks
tumbled on Friday trade. Sensex plunged 714 points following weak global
equities and selling in index majors Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and
Reliance Industries. Continuous foreign fund outflows also dented sentiments.

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The BSE benchmark Sensex closed 714.53 points or 1.23% lower to
settle at 57.197.15. During the day, it plummeted by 776.96 points or 1.34% to
57,134.72.

The NSE Nifty also plunged 220.65 points or 1.27% to
17,171.95. BSE midcap and smallcap ended in the red.

All sectoral indices closed with the losses with capital
goods, bank, metal, realty and healthcare down 1%-2%.

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Major laggards from the 30-share include were State Bank
of India down by 3.08%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.06%, IndusInd Bank down by
2.94%, Dr Reddy’s down by 2.86%, Axis Bank down by 2.68%, Bajaj Finserv down by
2.37%, Infosys down by 2.03% and ICICI Bank down by 1.95%.

Among the gainers were M&M up by 0.98%, Bharti Airtel
up by 0.50%, Maruti up by 0.35%, Asian Paints up by 0.26%, ITC up by 0.25% and
HCL Technologies up by 0.20%.

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The rupee slipped 32 paise to close at 76.49 against the
US dollar on Friday, following a sell-off in domestic markets and a strong
greenback in the overseas markets.

Asian market peers in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul settled
lower, while Shanghai closed marginally higher.

European markets were trading lower during the
mid-session deals.

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Stocks in the US had ended 1% lower on Thursday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude slipped 1.60% to
USD 106.6 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors continued their selling spree, offloading shares worth Rs 713.69
crore on Thursday.