Earnings drag Sensex 318 pts; Nifty holds 9700, weekly loss at 3.5%; Midcap outperforms

The market fell sharply for fifth consecutive session Friday, with the Sensex shedding more than 300 points and taking the total weekly loss to more than 1,100 points on geopolitical tensions and disappointing earnings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 317.74 points or 1.01 percent to 31,213.59 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 109.45 points or 1.11 percent to 9,710.80.

However, the broader markets outperformed benchmarks after losing more than 5 percent in last few sessions. The BSE Midcap index was down 0.2 percent and the Smallcap ended flat as market breadth improved in afternoon.

Advance:decline ratio remained in favour of declines at 1:2 but was better than 1:8 in morning.
More to come….