Domestic benchmark indices came under heavy selling pressure on Friday thanks to the hottest American inflation since 1982 which sparked fears of aggressive rate hikes. At close, the Sensex was down 773.11 points or 1.31 per cent at 58,152.92, and the Nifty was down 231 points or 1.31 per cent at 17,374.80. About 896 shares have advanced, 2318 shares declined, and 105 shares are unchanged.
Given this, all the sectoral indices settled in the negative territory today with technology and public sector banks being the worst hit. The IT and PSB indices dropped nearly 3 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively, while Bank, Financial Services, and Realty indices slipped upwards of 1 per cent on the NSE.
Among individual stocks, only 3 counters on the Sensex and 5 on the Nifty managed to eke out gains. These included Indian Oil Corporation, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, BPCL, and NTPC.
Meanwhile, the laggards were Grasim Industries, Tech M, Infosys, HCL Tech, HDFC, Wipro, UPL, Powergrid, Ultratech Cement, Nestle India, Kotak Bank, Titan Company, TCS, SBI, HDFc Life, Tata Motors, Bajaj twins, and ICICI Bank. All these stocks fell between 1.5 and 3.2 per cent.
Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “Aggressive FII selling resulting from negative global cues wreaked havoc in the domestic market today. Globally markets traded in red amid mounting concerns of surging US inflation which fuelled fears of a hawkish rate hike by the central bank. US inflation surged 7.5 per cent on an annual basis with the consumer price index for all items rising 0.6 per cent in January. On the domestic front, all sectors were deep in red with IT, realty and PSU banks being the most affected”
In line with soured global sentiment on high US inflation data and rate hike fears, the benchmark indices started trade on a highly negative note a day after RBI’s dovish policy had calmed the markets.
Mohit Nigam, head – PMS, Hem Securities, said: “On the technical front 17,420 and 17650 are immediate support and resistance in Nifty 50. For Bank Nifty 38,500 and 39,200 are immediate support and resistance respectively.”
The 30 stock S&P BSE Sensex closed at 58,926.03 points, which is 460.06 points or 0.79 per cent higher from its previous day’s close at 58,465.97 points. The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange closed 142.05 points or 0.81 per cent higher at 17,605.85 points.
Global Markets
Wall Street equities tumbled on Thursday as markets bet that the latest inflation report would compel the Federal Reserve to accelerate efforts to tighten monetary policy and raise lending rates. The S&P 500 fell 83.10 points, or 1.8%, to 4,504.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 526.47 points, or 1.5%, to 35,241.59. The Nasdaq fell 304.73 points, or 2.1%, to 14,185.64.
Hong Kong stocks opened with a loss Friday morning following a sell-off on Wall Street fuelled by a forecast-beating US inflation reading that fanned fears the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates sharply. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.35 percent, or 87.15 points, to 24,837.20. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.39 percent, or 13.63 points, to 3,472.28.
Meanwhile, oil prices remained steady in trades on Thursday. Brent crude was down 0.2 per cent at $91.41 a barrel, and WTI crude futures added 0.3 per cent to $89.88, a barrel.
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