Sensex down 500 pts, Nifty at 25,300; FMCG, Auto, Realty shares drag

Indian equity benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, were trading lower on Friday amid mixed cues from global peers.

At 11:00 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 81,741.01 levels, up 507.60 points or 0.62 per cent, and the NSE Nifty50 was down 187 points or 0.73 per cent at 25,309.55 levels.

Among the Sensex 30 shares – IT shares witnessed buying for the third straight trading session. Infosys gained 3 per cent at ₹1,331. Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and TCS were up around 1 per cent each.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo), Reliance Industries and Adani Ports were down over 1 per cent each.

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 100 slipped 0.76 per cent, and the Nifty SmallCap 100 dipped 1 per cent. Sectorally, the Nifty Auto, FMCG, Realty, Chemicals and Financial Services indices were down over 1 per cent each. The IT index, however, was up nearly 1 per cent.
Global markets
Among global peers, markets in the Asia-Pacific were mixed on Friday after a decline on Wall Street overnight, triggered by a sharp drop in Nvidia shares despite the company reporting quarterly earnings that beat expectations.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.1 per cent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed in early trading.

Overnight in the US, Wall Street stocks reversed course on Thursday, sliding a day after results from artificial intelligence leader Nvidia failed to excite investors. The pullback in Nvidia weighed on technology stocks, which have been a key driver of the recent market rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.03 per cent, but the broader S&P 500 lost 0.54 per cent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.18 per cent.

FII, DII activity

In the institutional activity segment, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth ₹1,945.99 crore. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth ₹3,655 crore on February 26.