Key equity benchmarks ended with deep losses on Friday, amid negative global cues. The Nifty settled below 16,250 level after crossing 16,450 mark in afternoon trade. Investors sentiment was dented by the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war, soaring oil prices and persistent FIIs selling. Barring the Nifty IT index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the red. Consumer durables and auto shares witnessed steep selling.
As per provisional closing, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 768.87 points or 1.40% at 54,333.81. The Nifty 50 index shed 252.70 points or 1.53% at 16,245.35.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index lost 2.43% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 1.70%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1229 shares rose and 2123 shares fell. A total of 105 shares were unchanged.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (up 2.88%), ITC (up 2.55%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.98%), BPCL (up 1.11%) and UltraTech Cement (up 1.02%) were top Nifty gainers.
Titan Company (down 5.21%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 4.75%), Asian Paints (down 4.45%), Hero MotoCorp (down 4.32%) and Tata Motors (down 4.28%) were major Nifty losers.
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Global Stocks:
The Dow Jones index futures were down 286 points, indicating a weak opening in the US stock market today.
European shares fell across the board while most Asian stocks ended lower on Friday, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine escalates, with Russian forces attacking Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
Ukraine's nuclear agency says Russian military forces have taken control of the facility in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Situated in the southeast of the country, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant houses six of Ukraine's 15 operational nuclear power reactors.
The bombardment triggered international condemnation and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the attack.
Traders also monitored comments from US Federal Reserve officials, including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee for his second day of Congressional testimony this week. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Thursday that the war in Ukraine intensified the need for the Fed to raise rates.
India Services PMI:
India's services sector output increased to 51.8 in February from 51.5 in January, pointing to a moderate rate of expansion, as per a report by IHS Markit. Greater bookings, better demand conditions and the retreat of the pandemic drove this moderate expansion.
The composite PMI output rose to 53.5 in February from 53.0 in January, signaling a solid rate of expansion that was nonetheless below its long-run average, the IHS Markit stated.
Economy:
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called for increasing India's share in global trade to 10% and taking India's share of exports in GDP to about 25%. Addressing the closing session of the Post-Budget Webinar on 'Make in India for the World', Goyal said these are ambitious targets, but doable.
He said other countries are also talking of programmes very similar to AatmaNirbhar Bharat. Goyal called for taking India among the top three nations in Global Services Trade.
Stating that the government is looking at a more liberal regulatory regime for the Drones sector barring the Defence systems, he said that the Industry should aim to make India become the manufacturing hub of Drones.
He called for integrating quality in full value chain and said it should not just come into picture once the final product is made. Underlining the need to develop technical skills of tomorrow for the industry, the Minister called for the need to reorient academic courses to make it relevant to the "needs of today".
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