US markets suffered sharp selloff on Friday, with all the major averages witnessing cut of over a percent and partly offsetting the upward move seen over the past two weeks. Although, there was positive economic news from the domestic front, the fall was attributed to sharp sell-off in Chinese futures, amid concerns about new trading regulations. Chinese regulators reportedly expanded the supply of shares available for short sellers while clamping down on over-the-counter margin trading.
On the economy front, the University of Michigan showed a bigger than expected improvement in US consumer sentiment in the month of April. The preliminary reading on the consumer sentiment index for April came in at 95.9 compared to the final March reading of 93.0. Also, the Labor Department said its consumer price index edged up by 0.2 percent in March, matching the increase seen in February.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 279.47 points or 1.54 percent to 17,826.30, the Nasdaq plummeted 75.98 points or 1.52 percent to 4,931.81 and the S&P 500 plunged by 23.81 points or 1.13 percent to 2,081.18.
The Indian ADRs ended in red, Dr Reddy’s Lab was down by 0.40%, HDFC Bank was down by 1.05%, ICICI Bank was down by 0.16%, Infosys was down by 0.21%, Tata Motors was down by 0.70% and Wipro was down by 0.17%.