Sensex closes 199 points down on global sell-off

Indian equity benchmarks closed down over 1% on Friday amid extremely choppy session. The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 199.09 points or 1.22%, to close at 16,162.06, after seeing a swing of 316 points intra-day. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 55.90 points or 1.14%, to end at 4,867.75. Reliance industries, with a fall of over 2%, was the chief contributor to volatility.

On a weekly basis, the cut is deeper at 4.6%; bulk of the fall came in on Thursday when the Sensex fell over 700 points. Indices tried a couple of times to get back into the green, but gave in due to sell-off in private banks, metal, technology and capital goods stocks.

Renewed recession concerns in the US and Europe gripped markets world over in the absence of a co-ordinated action. FOMC disappointed investors on Wednesday by saying, "There are significant downside risks to US economy." Yesterday, US President Barack Obama had urged ''coordinated action'' to prevent a return to recession.

Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP Capital Investors expects significant volatility over the next two weeks. "We may probably see quantitative easing in six weeks and then markets will start recovering by the year end. But for now the picture is volatile," he told CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive interview.

"Once this volatility subsides, we expect fund flows into emerging markets, where valuations look quite attractive," added.

European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were also down 1-2% amid volatility. The Dow Jones futures fell more than 1%.