Sensex slipped below 60 thousand for the third day; RIL, IT stocks fall
The BSE benchmark Sensex fell below the 60,000-level for the third consecutive session on Thursday, led by heavy selling in IT, energy and finance stocks amid selling in European equities. Traders said depreciating rupee and continued selling by foreign investors also affected the market sentiment. The BSE 30-share index ended 634.20 points or 1.06 per cent lower at 59,464.62. Similarly, the NSE Nifty ended 181.40 points or 1.01 per cent lower at 17,757.
Bajaj Finserv was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, falling 4.57 per cent, followed by Infosys, TCS, Sun Pharma, HUL, HCL Tech, Dr Reddy’s, HDFC and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Maruti and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers up to 4.86 per cent.
Market breadth was negative, with 23 out of 30 Sensex counters closed in the red. Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Continuing concerns over global inflation and a possible Fed rate hike acted as major deterrents for the domestic market for the third day in a row.”
“High volatility due to rising bond yields is putting pressure on foreign investors to withdraw funds from highly valued markets such as India.
As the recent earnings failed to enthuse the market, the ongoing global volatility eroded investor confidence,” he said. On the results front, Asian Paints consolidated net profit for the third quarter ended December 2021 at 18.5 per cent The percentage fell to Rs 1,031.29 crore.
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd reported 18.68 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,300 crore for the third quarter. Ajit Mishra, VP-Research, Religare Broking Ltd. said that the market is currently facing global constraints and there is no respite from the domestic front either.
“However, we feel it is a healthy correction as of now and Nifty is expected to remain in the 17,600 zone. For traders, the bigger challenge is to tide over the volatility mid-earnings season. We feel that positions are limited. It is prudent to do so and prefer a hedge approach until the markets resume the uptrend,” he said.
Sector-wise, BSE IT, Tech, Energy, Healthcare and FMCG declined as much as 1.69 per cent, while power, utilities, metals and realty registered gains. Among the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index fell 0.07 per cent, while the Smallcap index rose 0.05 per cent. Asian markets rose after China cut benchmark mortgage rates to support the troubled property sector. Shares in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended with gains, while Shanghai closed in the red.
Stock exchanges in Europe were seeing heavy selling pressure in mid-session deals as investors bet on sharp rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. International oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1 per cent to $87.56 a barrel. On Thursday, the rupee had lost 7 paise to close at 74.51 against the US dollar.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they sold shares worth Rs 2,704.77 crore on Wednesday, according to stock exchange data.
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