Markets fall for 2nd day amid weak global trends

MUMBAI: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty declined nearly 1 per cent on Friday, in tandem with a weak trend in overseas markets amid hawkish tone of global central banks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 461.22 points or 0.75 per cent to settle at 61,337.81. During the day, it tumbled 506.5 points or 0.81 per cent to 61,292.53.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 145.90 points or 0.79 per cent to end at 18,269.

From the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, Dr Reddy's, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, Wipro, PowerGrid and Titan were the major laggards.

Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Bank and Nestle were among the winners.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai ended lower, while Hong Kong settled in the green.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the red in mid-session deals. The US markets had ended sharply lower on Thursday.

''Global markets extended their rout as the ECB (European Central Bank) and BoE (Bank of England) followed the Fed in raising policy rates by half a per cent while maintaining a hawkish tone on inflation. ''The aggressiveness of central banks in combating inflation has raised concerns about the global economy's health. Despite attempts to recoup losses, lack of global support pushed the indices back into negative territory,'' said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 2.25 per cent to USD 79.38 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 710.74 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.