Sensex, Nifty decline; AstraZeneca Pharma at all-time high, Granules India rallies in weak market

On Friday, the domestic benchmark indices tanked on global cues. Sensex plunged by 633.76 points or 1.63 per cent to close at 38,357.18 while, Nifty fell by 193.60 points or 1.68 per cent to settle at 11,333.85.

While Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE VIX that was coming towards its longer-term average price of 19.4 spiked 7.03 points, India VIX jumped 7.15 per cent to 21.97. This further reflects an expectation of volatility, going ahead.

As the cases of Coronavirus continue to increase in August, activities in the service sector fell for the sixth month even as the rate of contraction slowed. PMI for services rose to 41.8 in August as compared to 34.2 in July, which is still 8 points below the 50-point mark.

Tracking a huge sell-off on Wall Street, where investors cashed out on fears over high valuations, following a sharp rise in the recent months, the global indices declined. Shanghai index, Hang Seng, and KOSPI fell by 0.87 per cent, 1.25 per cent and 1.15 per cent, respectively. Nikkei closed in red, down by 1.11 per cent as investors booked profits after the recent rallies.

European indices such as FTSE 100, DAX, and CAC 40 were trading up by 0.66 per cent, 0.23 per cent and 0.96 per cent, respectively.

Uncertainty over loan recovery after the direction from Supreme Court led to a sharp decline in the banking and financial stocks. Following the correction of US markets, IT stock also remained under pressure.

Only one stock i.e. Maruti Suzuki (1.70 per cent) gained in Sensex basket out of 30. While Sensex losers consisted of Axis Bank that declined by 4.07 per cent, Tata Steel fell by 3.78 per cent, SBI decreased by 3.05 per cent, NTPC declined by 3.02 per cent, Bharti Airtel fell by 2.80 per cent, ITC plunged by 2.61 per cent, etc.

The broader markets also declined as BSE Mid-Cap and BSE Small-Cap fell by 1.74 per cent and 1.07 per cent, respectively.