The Indian equity benchmarks dropped on Friday as investors turned to profit booking after benchmarks surged to highest levels in over five months, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 970 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 17,600 dragged by losses in Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro.
As of 1:26 pm, the Sensex was down 928 points to 59,005 and Nifty 50 index fell 286 points to 17,591.
"Nifty has an immediate support at 17,770. Any move below the same may extend the fall toward 17,620-17,550 mark. On the flip side 17,940-18,040 will act as strong resistance levels. It’s a stock specific market, trade calls with strict stop loss," brokerage firm Nirmal Bang said in a report.
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Selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Media index's 3 per cent fall. Nifty IT, Auto, Financial Services, Metal, Realty, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also fell between 1-3 per cent.
Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices dropped over 2 per cent each.
47 out of fifty shares in the Nifty 50 basket were trading lower led by Tata Consumer Products' over 4 per cent fall. UPL, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra, Grasim Industries, Ultratech Cement, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Adani Ports and Infosys also fell between 2.6-4.5 per cent.
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On the flipside, IndusInd Bank, Cipla and Sun Pharma were among the notable gainers.
The overall market breadth was extremely bearish as 2,486 shares were declining while 928 were advancing on the BSE.
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