Market ends in red for the third week
The market registered third successive week of decline as Covid-19 cases continued to rise.
During the holiday-truncated week, the Sensex slumped 953.58 points, or 1.95 per cent, while the Nifty-50 tanked 276.50 points, or 1.89 per cent.
The big fall in the Sensex on Monday by 882 points was not challenged by the bulls effectively though the market closed in the green on Thursday, gaining over 375 points.
Nifty-50 and Sensex ended 65 and 202 points lower on Friday, closing at 14,341 and 47,878, respectively. But the broader markets ended in the green, with Nifty Mid-Cap 100 and Nifty Small-cap 100 rising 0.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
On Friday, foreign portfolio investors were net sellers of equities worth Rs 1,360.76 crore but the domestic institutions were net buyers by Rs 1,995.59 crore, as per the provisional data.
"A deadly wave of coronavirus infections raises concerns over business recovery," said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research, HDFC Securities.
Reports of a possible increase in capital gains tax in the US took a toll on the global equities, which also impacted the Indian market just before the weekend close as traders didn't want to carry risks, with Mondays, of late, witnessing bear attacks.
The earnings season has not boosted market sentiments, as it did in the previous quarter, since big IT companies and banks have reported mixed financial performance so far and the market is more focused on the likely fallout of full blown panIndia andemic.
HCL Technologies’ March 2021 quarter operating performance, with a 6 per cent decline in consolidated net profit, missed expectations due to salary hike and the special one-time bonus, according to analysts. The company on Friday proposed an interim dividend of Rs 10 per share to mark the $10 billion annual revenue milestone.
Joseph Thomas, head of research, Emkay Wealth Management, said, "The markets continued to remain extremely subdued with losses during the course of the whole week, across sectors and segments. The main reason for the downtrend is the rising cases of the virulent pandemic. While the fundamentals support a robust economy, it is too early to assess the potential damages.”
"But the probability of the resurgence of the pandemic impacting growth and therefore earnings, is quite high for the first two quarters of this year," Thomas said.