The Indian equity market ended sharply lower dragged by heavy selling in banking and financial stocks. The Sensex plunged 983.58 points, or 1.98 percent to end at 48,782.36, while the Nifty closed 263.80 points, or 1.77 percent lower at 14,631.10.

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Midcap and smallcap indices declined 0.4 percent each.

Barring Nifty Pharma, all other sectoral indices were ended in the red with Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Auto losing the most.

On the Nifty50, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Asian Paints led the losses, while ONGC, Coal India, Grasim Industries, Divi's Laboratoriesa and IOC were the top gainers.

According to Binod Modi, Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities, domestic equities fell sharply on weak global cues and heavy sell-off in financial stocks. Asian markets traded weak on emerging concerns about growth after China’s factory activity expanded slower than expected in April.

"Persistent rise in daily caseload and higher number of deaths continue to remain a matter of concerns for central and state governments and therefore any possibility of further economic restrictions cannot be ruled out by the state governments. The market is expected to be volatile until we see a clear reversal in COVID-19 cases,” he was quoted as saying in the PTI report.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended on a negative note. Bourses in Europe were trading with marginal gains in mid-session deals.

First Published:Apr 30, 2021 3:36 PM IST