Mumbai, Apr 30 (IANS): The Indian stock market witnessed a freefall on Friday with the BSE Sensex closing nearly 1,000 points lower.
Heavy selling was witnessed in banking and finance stocks.
The decline came amid surging Covid-19 cases in the country and weakness in the Asian markets.
Sensex closed at 48,782.36, lower by 983.58 points, or 1.98 per cent, from its previous close of 49,765.94.
It had opened at 49,360.89 and touched an intra-day high of 49,569.42 and a low of 48,698.08 points.
The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 14,631.10, lower by 263.80 points, or 1.77 per cent, from its previous close.
The top losers on the Sensex were HDFC, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, while the only gainers were ONGC, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Bajaj Auto.