Selling pressure returned to the Indian stock markets on Friday, wiping out the gains of the two previous sessions.
Selling pressure intensified on Friday as the session progressed, with the
Sensex ending the Friday session at 18,008.15, down 441 points.
Worries over high food prices, and unrest in Egypt made investors sell after Thursday's sharp gains.
The selling pressure was broadbased with all the 13 BSE sectoral indices in the red. Realty, IT, FMCG and oil & gas stocks were the hardest hit in Friday's selloff.
Realty and oil & gas stocks had seen sharp gains yesterday. Among the Sensex stocks, just one stock, Bajaj Auto, closed higher. M&M fell 5.3 per cent to be the biggest loser among the Sensex components. Among other heavy losers, NTPC, L&T, TCS, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Hindalco, Tata Power, Rel Infra and ITC fell between 3 per cent and 4.2 per cent.
"Auto stocks fell because the sector is reeling underpressure of rising prices of crude oil globally, along withincreasing metal prices which have largely hurt investorssentiment back home and forced them to take away profits," amarket expert said.
Country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki lost 2.92 percent on the BSE.
Other major losers from the auto pack were Hero Honda andTata Motors, which fell by 1.95 per cent and 0.57 per cent,respectively.
However, bucking the weakness in the sector was BajajAuto, which emerged as the lone gainer among the frontlinestocks by surging 1.27 per cent.
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