Sensex tanks 1,017 pts; Nifty holds 16,200; Bajaj Finance sinks 4%, RIL 3%

Stock market highlights: Over 35 Nifty stocks ended the session in the red with Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Kotak Bank, Hindalco, Wipro, Reliance Industries, Tech M, and Infosys falling between 2.5-4%

MARKET LIVE: Sensex sheds 1,000 pts; Nifty below 16,250; RIL, Banks, IT dip

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights: Global doom rocked Indian equities on Friday as investors fretted over longer-than-expected sticky inflation, coupled with aggressive monetary policy tightening. Tracking losses in global peers, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex plunged 1,114 points intra-day, before settling at 54,303, down 1,017 points or 1.84 per cent.

The NSE Nifty50, meanwhile, held the 16,200-mark to close at 16,202, down 276 points or 1.68 per cent. The index had hit a low of 16,173 during the day. In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 100 and SmallCap100 fell up to 1 per cent.

ALSO READ: Why did the Sensex fall on Friday?

Over 35 Nifty stocks ended the session in the red with Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Kotak Bank, Hindalco, Wipro, Reliance Industries, Tech M, and Infosys falling between 2.5-4 per cent. The losses were trimmed by gains in Grasim Industries, Asian Paints, Apollo Hospitals, Divis Labs, and Dr Reddy's Labs, that gained over 0.5 per cent each.

Sectorally, all but Nifty FMCG ended the session in the red. The losses were led by the Nifty IT, Oil & gas, Private Bank, and Financial Services indices as they fell 2 per cent each.

ALSO READ: Chris Wood rejigs India equity exposure; replaces HDFC with HDFC Bank

Global cues

European stocks fell further on Friday as investors digested the European Central Bank’s latest policy meeting and looked ahead to a key US inflation print. The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 1.3 per cent in early trade, with banks shedding 2 per cent to lead losses.

US stock futures were muted in early premarket trade on Friday, while shares in Asia-Pacific closed largely in the red.

4:13 PM

Closing comment: US inflation data crucial to sense quantum of Fed rate hike

Rising inflation fears gripped the domestic market leading to heavy sell-off ahead of the release of US inflation data & Fed policy meet next week.

The inflation data will be crucial to sense the quantum of a rate hike.

European Central Bank, in its policy meeting, signalled to start rate hike from next month and a large change in September.

Persisted foreign fund outflow and widening trade deficit due to the elevated oil prices led to depreciation of INR, weakening the sentiment.

Views by Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

People walk past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building, in Mumbai (Photo: PTI)

4:11 PM

Market round-up view: Inflation, central bank measures critical in near-to-medium term

Indian equity markets ended the week on a negative note. Major key indices and sectoral indices declined during the week.

Amid persistent inflation, Central Banks continued with monetary policy tightening. RBI hiked repo rate by 50 bps to 4.9%. European Central Banks decided to end net asset purchases under its asset purchase programme and also signaled towards rate increase in its July monetary policy meeting.

Crude oil prices inched up with Brent crude trading above $120 per barrel mark. The US 10-year treasury yield again moved above 3%.

FIIs continued with their selling of Indian equities. Monsoon progress needs to watched out for as a good monsoon will calm concerns about further food inflation.

However, inflation, commodity price movement and Central bank measures are critical factors for market performance over the near to medium term.

Views by Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities

bear market, sensex, nifty, loss, growth, investment

4:08 PM

Nifty tech view: Weekly charts indicate more downside for the benchmark

The pessimistic mood across several global markets had a rub off effect on local equities as nagging issues like rising interest rate scenario, higher inflation levels and persistent FII selling spooked markets.

Bigger concerns of stagnating growth and its effect on corporate earnings going ahead is also making investors nervous, resulting in periodic selloffs.

Technically, after a long time, the Nifty closed below 20 day SMA and, on intraday charts, it is consistently forming a lower top formation which is largely negative.

On weekly charts the index has formed a long bearish candle indicating further downtrend from the current levels.

If the Nifty falls below 16150, it could slip up to 16000-15850 levels. On the flip side, a fresh pullback rally is possible only after the 16300 breakout. Above which, the index could move up to 16400-16500.

Views by Amol Athawale, Deputy Vice President - Technical Research, Kotak Securities