Equities fall 1% after 3-day winning streak
MUMBAI: Snapping its three-session rising streak, equity benchmark Sensex tumbled 487 points on Friday as investors offloaded RIL, banks and auto stocks amid a lacklustre trend overseas.
After gyrating 1,283 points during the day, the 30-share BSE index ended 487.43 points or 0.95 per cent lower at 50,792.08.
The broader NSE Nifty tanked 143.85 points or 0.95% to end at 15,030.95.
Bajaj Auto was the top loser in the Sensex pack, falling 3.10%, followed by Maruti, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries and UltraTech Cement.
Index heavyweight Reliance accounted for most of the index’s losses. Only four Sensex constituents closed in the green—PowerGrid, Titan, ONGC and Infosys, rising up to 2.28%. During the holiday-shortened week, the Sensex advanced 386.76 points or 0.78%, while the Nifty rose 92.85 points or 0.62%.
According to Binod Modi, head-strategy at Reliance Securities, after seeing a brisk opening on favourable global cues, domestic equities fell sharply mainly led by selling pressure in financials and auto stocks.
“10-year US treasury yield again surged back to 1.6% on anticipation of spike in inflation led by $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus backed faster economic recovery. This has weighed on investors’ sentiments... In our view, hardening bond yields and soaring oil prices are expected to weigh on investors’ sentiments and may keep markets to remain volatile in the near to medium term,” he added.
BSE auto, energy, bankex, finance and FMCG ended up to 1.60% lower, while utilities, power and consumer durables closed higher. Broader BSE midcap index fell 0.45%, while smallcap inched up 0.14%.
Global equities were largely on the backfoot amid rising bond yields, which stoked inflation concerns. In Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended on a positive note, while Hong Kong was in the red.
Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading in losses in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.09% lower at $69.57 per barrel. Extending its gaining streak for the third day in a row, the Indian rupee advanced by 12 paise to close at 72.79 against the US dollar.