BSE Sensex under pressure in afternoon trade as bank, auto stocks fall

The BSE Sensex made heavy losses during the afternoon trade on Friday, falling over 280 points, or 0.99 per cent, as interest sensitive sectors like automobile, banking and capital goods declined.

Other sectors like healthcare, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and information technology (IT) came under selling pressure too.

The 30-share Sensex, which opened at 29,134.93 points, was trading at 28,645.32 at 1:40 pm, down 285.09 points, or 0.99 per cent, from the previous close of 28,930.41.

The index has touched a high of 29,183.76 points and a low of 28,577.36 points in the trade so far.

Meanwhile, the 50-share Nifty dropped below the psychological 8,700-mark, trading at 8,687.55 - a drop of 88.45 points or 1.01 per cent.

All sector-based indices of the Bombay Stock Exchange were trading in the red.

The BSE S&P automobile index was down 245.01 points, bank index was lower by 227.22 points, capital goods index came down by 219.16 points, healthcare index fell 136.81 points, FMCG index declined by 97.45 points and IT index decreased by 85.11 points.