The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex plunged over 200 points and slipped below the key 29,000 mark figure after closing at an 18-month high on Thursday, while the Nifty50 index hit the 8,900-mark owing to weak Asian cues on Friday.
At 10.10 a.m., the 30-share BSE index was down 205.43 points or 0.71 percent at 28,839.85 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 63.65 points or 0.71 per cent at 8,888.85.
Indian shares declined on global cues as investors weighed prospects for further monetary easing in Europe and possibility of interest rate hike by the U.S. Fed.
Top five Sensex gainers were Wipro (+0.96%), TCS (+0.85%), ONGC (+0.71%), Power Grid (+0.35%) and GAIL (+0.32%), while the major losers were HDFC (-2.16%), ICICI Bank (-2.12%), Hero MotoCorp (-1.96%), Bajaj Auto (-1.73%) and Tata Motors (-1.63%).
Axis Bank also lost over 2 percent on the BSE. Stocks of private lender Yes Bank that were trading low since yesterday also dipped 5.38 percent at Rs 1,259.00 at about 9.22 a.m.
Telecom stocks edged higher and Bharti Airtel (up 0.34%), Idea Cellular (up 0.47%) and Reliance Communications (up 2.28%) were up. Bharti Infratel, the telecom arm of Bharti Airtel, was up 1.63%.
Stocks of Essar Shipping Ltd were trading 6.68 percent down at Rs 26.35 at about 9.17 a.m.
Among BSE sectoral indices, banking index fell the most by 1.34 percent, realty 1.06 percent, metal 1.04 percent and FMCG 1.01 percent. On the other hand, oil and gas index was up 0.11 percent, healthcare 0.06 percent, power 0.06 percent and IT 0.05 percent.
"Asian stocks fell the most in a month and regional bonds joined a global debt selloff as investors weighed prospects for further monetary easing in Europe and Japan. US stocks on Thursday closed lower after the European Central Bank kept key interest rates steady but disappointed some by not announcing additional measures to boost Europe's sluggish economy. US consumer credit surged up by $17.7 billion in July after climbing by an upwardly revised $14.5 billion in June. Economists had expected consumer credit to rise by $15.6 billion compared to the $12.3 billion increase originally reported for the previous month," according to a report by SMC global.
The Indian rupee also fell in early trade on Friday for the second consecutive session. The currency opened at 66.57 per dollar, down 16 paise compared to previous day's closing value of 66.41 a dollar.
