Market Wrap, Dec 6: Sensex slips 334 pts, Nifty over 11,900; SBI slumps 5%

Investors turned to profit-booking on Friday as weak growth concerns dampened sentiment at D-Street. Financials slipped the most on the index with heavyweights such as State Bank of India, HDFC, and ICICI Bank declining up to 5 per cent. 

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed 334 points, or 0.82 per cent, lower at 40,445.15 level. YES Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, HDFC, and IndusInd Bank were the top laggards at the 30-share index. Loses were, however, trimmed by gains in Reliance Industries, and HDFC Bank. In the intra-day trade, the Sensex hit a low of 40,337.53. 

On the NSE, the Nifty50 slipped below the 11,900-mark in the intra-day trade to hit an intra-day low of 11,888.85. At close, the index was at 11,921.5 level, down 97 points, or 0.81 per cent.

On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India sharply lowered its GDP growth forecast for financial year 2019-20 (FY20) to 5 per cent from 6.1 per cent on substantially weaker growth in Q2FY20. Besides, the central bank retained status quo on rates, against expectation for a 25bps cut, on inflationary concerns. 

In November, the consumer confidence in India, too, dropped to 85.7 -- its lowest since at least 2014, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s consumer confidence survey. The benchmark100-mark differentiates between pessimism and optimism. The future expectations gauge -- that takes into account the one-year ahead perceptions -- fell to 114.5 from 118.0 in Sept.

In the broader market, mid-caps tumbled the most. The S&P BSE mid-cap index ended the day 1.27 per cent lower at 14,668.31, while the S&P BSE small-cap index closed at 0.85 per cent lower at 13,341.39.

In stock-specific development, shares of Vodafone Idea slumped 9 per cent to Rs 6.66 on the BSE after its chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said the company will shut down if the government failed to provide any relief in wake of the AGR verdict.

On the contrary, shares of Eris Lifesciences hit a five-month high of Rs 509.3, up over 15 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade today, in an otherwise weak market. The stock eventually settled 7.8 per cent higher at Rs 476.95 per share.

Global markets: 

Asian shares ended higher on Friday after Beijing said it will waive import tariffs for some soybeans and pork shipments from the United States. 

Japan's Nikkei index gained 0.23 per cent, South Korea's Kospi up 1.02 per cent, and China's Shanghai Composite added 0.43 per cent.

In Europe,  the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3 per cent by around 2:00 pm, with banks, technology firms and retail companies leading the gains.