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Indian benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 opened marginally higher but pared their gains seconds later on Friday.
Sensex, Nifty
Indian stock market extended its bear run into the fifth straight session on Friday as foreign investors’ selling spree, underwhelming September quarter results, and valuation concerns hit sentiment. The benchmark indices were down for the fourth straight week, their longest weekly losing streak since August 2023. The Nifty50 and the Sensex indices have shed more than 7 per cent during this period.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex today tumbled 662.87 points, or 0.83 per cent, to end the session at 79,402.29 levels. The Nifty50, on the other hand, closed below the crucial level of 24,200 at 24,180.80, down 218.63 points or 0.9 per cent.
20 of the 30 Sensex index constituents and 38 of the 50 Nifty index constituents bled today. The losses were led by IndusInd Bank (down 18.99 per cent), Adani Enterprises, Shriram Finance, BPCL, M&M, Coal India, L&T, NTPC, Adani Ports, Tata Consumer Products, and Bajaj Finance (2 per cent).
On the upside, ITC, Axis Bank, HUL, Britannia Industries, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, Bharat Electronics, and HCL Tech eked out tepid gains of up to 2.2 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index dropped 1.48 per cent and the BSE SmallCap 2.4 per cent today. Over the past seven days, the mid- and small-cap indices have declined close to 9 per cent and are approaching the ‘correction’ zone.
Markets today were firmly in the grip of bears as the BSE saw nearly 3,087 shares closing in the red zone as against 856 rising stocks. The market capitalsiation of all the BSE listed companies reached Rs 437.7 trillion.
Among sectors, the Nifty Auto, Media, Metal, and PSU Bank indices slipped 2 per cent each. Defensive bets like the Nifty Pharma, and FMCG indices, on the flipside, gained up to 0.88 per cent.
Global Cues
That apart, markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mostly higher on Friday, with investors awaiting Japan’s general election over the weekend.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 0.67 per cent, while the Topix was down 0.70 per cent, on pace for a fifth straight day of losses.
In contrast, South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.45 per cent, and the small-cap Kosdaq down 0.75 per cent.
In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.23 per cent and the CSI300 was up 0.45 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.73 per cent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.34 per cent.
Meanwhile, global shares edged higher in choppy trading on Thursday, snapping three straight sessions of losses, while US Treasury yields and strong corporate results allayed worries over upcoming US elections and interest rate cuts.
The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished higher, with gains in consumer discretionary stocks and losses in materials and utilities equities. The Dow ended lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.33 per cent to 42,374.36, the S&P 500 rose 0.21 per cent to 5,809.86 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.76 per cent to 18,415.49.
