Sensex drops 550 points, holds on to 49,000

Mumbai, Jan 22 The Indian equity indices plunged on Friday afternoon with the BSE Sensex losing around 550 points.

Heavy selling in banking, finance and metal stocks weighed on the indices.

Around 2.40 p.m., Sensex was trading at 49,073.58, lower by 551.18 points or 1.11 per cent from its previous close of 49,624.76.

It opened at 49,594.95 and has so far recorded an intra-day high of 49,676.88 and a low of 48,894.64 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 14,433.80, lower by 156.55 points or 1.07 per cent from its previous close.

Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Unilever and TCS were the top gainers on the Sensex so far, while Axis Bank, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank were the major losers.