Indian stock markets slipped into the red on Friday, with Sensex and Nifty erasing all morning gains as rupee hit fresh record low against the US dollar, oil prices extended gains and global markets crashed, spooking investors.
Sensex dropped nearly 162 points to close at 75,237, while Nifty 50 fell 46 points to end the session at 23,643. The benchmark indices recorded sharp losses overall during the week despite bouts of recovery. Sensex fell around 2,000 points while Nifty 50 dropped 2% during the week.
Tata Steel, State Bank of India (SBI), Zomato-parent Eternal, Reliance Industries, (RIL), UltraTech Cement and M&M were the top losers on Sensex, falling 1-2%. Bucking the trend, IT stocks including Tech Mahindra and Infosys gained around 2% to lead gains on the benchmark index.
The sharp fall on Friday came as India VIX, which measures volatility in market, increased around 1% to close near 19. The downturn was broad-based, with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices dropping up to 0.6%.
Sectorally, Nifty Metal, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty declined around 2% each to lead losses. Nifty IT and Nifty Media meanwhile gained 1-2% to lead gains. Around 2,028 stocks declined on NSE, while 1,219 advanced and 119 remained unchanged.
Today’s sharp decline came after a strong rally seen yesterday. "The 789-point rise in Sensex yesterday was mainly triggered by short covering. FIIs were positioned heavily on the short side. There are rumours of measures to shore up the rupee and attract capital into the economy. We will have to wait for clarity on this,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments.
Rupee drops to fresh record low, crosses 96
Rupee crossed the 96 level for the first time ever against the US dollar, creating a fresh lifetime low record amid elevated crude oil prices, a strong dollar and hawkish comments from US policy makers. At close, rupee was down 0.2% at 95.96 against the US dollar.
Global markets crash
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi crashed more than 6% while Japan’s Nikkei declined around 3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also fell over around 2%, while China’s Shanghai Composite was down over 1%.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX declined around 2% while UK’s FTSE and France’s CAC fell more than 1% each. Wall Street closed in the green yesterday, but Dow Jones futures are in red today, suggesting a muted start for the American stock markets.
Oil prices jump
Oil prices crossed the crucial level of $100 per level earlier this year following the onset of the raging conflict in the oil-rich Middle East. After soaring close to $130 per barrel, oil prices cooled down but still remain comfortably above $100 per barrel. Brent crude prices gained over 3% to trade at $109 per barrel while WTI Crude also rose nearly 4% to $105 per barrel today.
FII snap net selling streak
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) became net buyers of Indian equities on Thursday, net buying shares worth Rs 187 crore on Dalal Street, according to NSE data. This comes after a seven-session long streak of net selling by foreign investors. Notably, this does not reflect their activity on Friday.
(With inputs from agencies)
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