Mumbai, May 9 || Indian equity markets witnessed a sharp decline on Friday as rising tensions between India and Pakistan spooked investors.
The selloff came after Pakistan fired eight missiles at Indian cities in response to India’s precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Fortunately, all the missiles were successfully intercepted by Indian air defence systems.
At the closing bell, the Sensex fell by 880.34 points, or 1.10 per cent, to close at 79,454.47, while the Nifty slipped 265.80 points or 1.10 per cent, to settle at 24,008.
"Nifty traders appeared to embrace risk-off trades amid India-Pakistan tensions, as the index fell from its recent consolidation zone," Rupak De of LKP Securities said.
The Nifty managed to stay above the 24,000 mark as the index found support around the 21-day exponential moving average (EMA), he added.
Among Sensex’s 30 stocks, ICICI Bank led the losses, falling 3.09 per cent during the intra-day session, followed by PowerGrid, which was down 2.61 per cent, Bajaj Finance, which declined 1.84 per cent, and Reliance Industries, which also dropped 1.84 per cent.