Equity benchmark indices trimmed morning gains and slipped into the red on Friday afternoon even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced the key repo rate by 75 basis points in line with central banks around the world to help combat the economic slowdown amid rising coronavirus (COVID-19).
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, however, also said that there is a rising probability that large parts of the global economy will slip into recession.
At 1:30 pm, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 481 points or 1.61 per cent to 29,466 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 88 points or 1.02 per cent to 8,554.
Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty auto down by 2.7 per cent and realty by 0.6 per cent. Nifty private bank, however, was up by 2.1 per cent and PSU bank by 1.7 per cent.
Among stocks, Bharti Airtel dipped by 5.9 per cent, Maruti by 5.5 per cent, Hero MotoCorp by 5.1 per cent and Hindalco by 3 per cent.
IndusInd Bank reversed its morning upward glide and cracked by 5.1 per cent while Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv lost by 3.8 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
More From This Section
The other prominent losers were HCL Technologies, GAIL and UltraTech Cements.
But Axis Bank gained by 10.8 per cent to Rs 378.30 per share. Coal India, Cipla, UPL and NTPC traded higher between 3 and 4 per cent.
.