Sensex falls over 1,300 points, Nifty below 17,200 as FIIs continue selloffs, new variant worries

Equity trading index Sensex has plunged 1,300 points on Friday, currently trading at 57,549.15, while Nifty is below 17,200.

Pharma stock Dr Reddys was the only stock in green on Sensex while Maruti, Bajaj Finance, Titan and Tata Steel were among the top losers.

 In the previous session, Sensex ended 454.10 points or 0.78 per cent higher at 58,795.09, and Nifty surged 121.20 points or 0.70 per cent to close at 17,536.25.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,300.65 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.

According to VK Vijayakumar, Chief investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, when a stock which has more than 10 per cent weight in Nifty surges by 6 per cent, it will trigger a strong upmove in the index. This happened on Thursday, when the spurt in RIL moved the Nifty up by 121 points.

"But this uptrend is unlikely to sustain and can easily reverse when the headwinds for the market turn stronger," he said.

He noted that the new headwind is the latest variant of the virus detected in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong. "This along with sustained selling by FIIs for the seventh consecutive day are major sentiment negatives for the market," he said.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo fell up to 2.68 per cent in mid-session deals.

Stock exchanges in the US ended largely positive in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 2.02 per cent to USD 80.56 per barrel.

(With PTI inputs)

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