Sensex Down Over 100 points, Nifty Below 10,750

Tracking weak global cues, the S&P BSE Sensex, on Friday, opened at 35,406.47, with a loss of 56.61 points or 0.16 per cent while the broader Nifty50 was at 10,736.40 level, down 31.95 points or 0.30 per cent. At 9:24 am, the Sensex was trading at a loss of 107.42 points to trade at 35,355.17 while the Nifty was at 10,729.90, down 38.45 points. Oil marketing companies Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil, which were down 1.84 per cent, 2.06 per cent and 1.14 per cent respectively, led the losses in the Nifty50 pack. Petrol and diesel rates were further lowered on Friday.

Besides, Indian affiliate of Moody's Investors Service, ICRA, said on Thursday that high global crude prices threaten the country's current account deficit (CAD), even as Moody's said that it expected the government to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product or GDP for the current fiscal year ending March 2019.

On Thursday, the Sensex had closed at 35,463.08 while the Nifty50 ended at 10,768.35 on hopes of monsoon reaching Mumbai, experts had said.

Foreign portfolio investors sold a net asset value of equities worth Rs 525.4 crore while domestic institutional investors bought net Rs 1,197.89 crore worth shares on Thursday, according to data from the National Stock Exchange.

In global trade, Asian shares stepped back from a two-and-a-half-month high as risk appetite soured on bets that Europe's massive monetary stimulus was nearing an end, compounded by uncertainty over trade relations ahead of a key meeting of global leaders. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 per cent after six straight sessions of gains took it to the highest since mid-March, according to a report by news agency Reuters. (With Reuters inputs)