Meanwhile, Asian shares extended losses after Bank of Japan surprised markets by declining to adopt fresh stimulus.
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The Sensex opened higher at 26078.28 and managed to stay at this level in the first couple of hours before sinking below the 26000-mark to hit an intra-day low of 25561.17.
Moreover, covering-up of short positions ahead of tomorrow’s expiry of April series in the derivatives segment supported the upside.
The US Federal Reserve said that it will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0.25%-0.5%, but gave little clue on the timing of its next rate hike.
ICICI Bank shares ended 1.48 per cent lower after the company today reported 75.97 per cent decline in standalone net profit for the fourth quarter ended March.
The broader NSE Nifty was down 0.61 percent at 7799.15 at 1.19 p.m., and down 1.2 percent for the week, snapping a two-week winning streak.
In the 30-share Sensex constituents, 27 stocks ended lower and three higher. It later ended at 25603.16, a drop of 461.02 points, or 1.77 per cent. All sectoral indices ended in the red, but the drop was steeper in power, oil & gas, metal, auto and realty counters. Here’s what you need to know about today’s market:Nifty rollovers to May series high: Rollover of Nifty50 F&O contracts to the May series stood at 74 per cent, which was quite high compared with the average rollover of 67 per cent in the previous three months.
With the development, foreign portfolio investors’ net bought shares worth Rs411 crore on Wednesday, according to the provisional data.
Jubilant FoodWorks has dipped 3.3% to Rs 1,151, extending its Thursday’s 11% fall on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after the company’s promoter Jubilant Consumer Private Limited, sold almost 4% stake in the company for Rs 300 crore through open market.
Other indices in China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan fell by up to 1.04 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng moved up by 0.12 per cent.
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Consequently, the key indices of the Indian equity markets traded flat during the late-afternoon session. ONGC (up 1.5 per cent), Tata Steel (up 1.3 per cent), Cipla (up 0.7 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (up 0.53 per cent), and Adani Ports (up 0.5 per cent), were the major Sensex gainers.
