Markets extend losses as global gloom spreads
Sensex declines more than 1% for the second straight session
MUMBAI: The BSE Sensex declined more than 1% for the second straight session on Friday as investors stayed on the back foot amid a rout in global markets and liquidity concerns back home.
The 30-share Sensex tumbled 340.78 points to end at a fresh seven-month low of 33,349.31, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 94.90 points to 10,030.00.
Continuous fall in the rupee, which depreciated to 73.45 (intraday) against the dollar, and prevailing liquidity crunch remain key dampening factors, brokers said.
Most Asian markets skidded to multi-month lows and European shares opened sharply weaker on worries over corporate earnings and global growth.
Disappointing quarterly earnings from Maruti Suzuki, Yes Bank and a few others accelerated the selling momentum here, brokers added.
The Sensex moved in a range of 33,776.80 and 33,298.43 before settling down by 340.31 points, or 1.01%, at 33,349.31.
This is its lowest closing since April 5 when it had finished at 33,596.80.
The broader National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty ended 94.90 points, or 0.94% down at 10,030 after shuttling between 10,128.85 and 10,004.55. This is its weakest closing since March 26, when the gauge had ended at 10,130.65 points.
On a weekly basis, both key indices Sensex and Nifty recorded their second straight week of losses by falling 966.32 points, or about 3%, and 273.55 points, or 2.7%, respectively.
Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign funds sold shares worth ₹1,495.71 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares to the tune of ₹339.60 crore Thursday, provisional data showed.
“Nifty made multiple attempts to turn positive but failed... The new lows in the Nifty however have not been accompanied by mid and small cap stocks and the inter-market divergence is a positive sign till it holds. The breadth was negative but not extreme.
“People are mostly reacting to overseas markets and Dow futures with no other triggers visible near term. However, as we head into next week they may start thinking about the US elections and domestic elections,” said Rohit Srivastava, fund manager—PMS, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
Shares of private sector lender Yes Bank emerged as the worst performer in the Sensex pack, plunging 8.97%, after the company reported a decline of 3.8% in net profit for the September quarter.
Other laggards included Axis Bank 4.04%, IndusInd Bank 3.14%, TCS 2.86%, Kotak Bank 2.76%, ONGC 2.47%, Infosys 2.43%, ITC Ltd 2.30%, HUL 1.65%, NTPC 1.58%, PowerGrid 1.49%, Asian Paints 0.93% and Sun Pharma 0.72%.
In contrast, Tata Motors, RIL, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp and Wipro rose up to 2.09%.
Among sectoral indices, the BSE Information Technology index fell the most at 2.05%, followed by bankex 1.97%, teck 1.85%, FMCG 1.24%, power 1.10%, infra 0.94%, realty 0.90%, metal 0.75%, PSU 0.65%, oil and gas 0.42%, healthcare 0.24%and capital goods 0.19%.
However, consumer durables and auto indices ended higher by up to 0.14%.
The broader markets too displayed a weak trend, with the BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices falling by 0.39% and 0.23%, respectively.
In the Asian region, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.40%, Korea’s Kospi 1.75%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 1.21%, Taiwan 0.33% and Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.19%.
European indices too were trading in the negative zone. Paris CAC dropped 1.91%, Frankfurrt’s DAX was down 1.59%, while London’s FTSE fell 1.35%.