Stock Market: Sensex Sinks Over 200 Points, Nifty Below 18,700 On Weak Cues. All Sectors In The Red

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, TechM, Bajaj twins, Tata Motors, SBI, Tata Steel, Titan, ITC emerged losers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday were trading in the red tracking weak global sentiment. At 9.50 am, the BSE Sensex was down by 235 points to 63,003. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 18,678, down 93 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, NTPC, Asian Paints, Airtel, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, and Nestle were the only early gainers. On the down side, TechM, Bajaj twins, Tata Motors, SBI, Tata Steel, Titan, ITC emerged losers. Among specific stocks, Landmark Cars rallied 4 per cent after about 4 million shares changed hands via block deals.

IT shares fell after global consulting major Accenture said it expected revenues for the fourth quarter of FY23 (June-August 2023) to be in the range $15.75-16.35 billion, an increase of 2-6 per cent in the local currency but below Street estimates.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap was down 0.33 per cent while the Smallcap indices were up 0.02 per cent.

Sectorwise, all the indices were in the red, with the Nifty Metal index down 0.9 per cent, the Nifty IT index 0.56 per cent, and the Nifty Bank index 0.3 per cent.

In the previous session on Thursday, Sensex ended at 63,239, down 284 points, while the NSE Nifty50, closed at 18,771, down 86 points.

"After the Sensex hitting record highs, the market momentum has slowed down. The mood in the markets now is not so bullish, globally. The big wall of worry continues to be the rising interest rates. After the ECB’s and Swiss National Bank’s 25 basis points rate hike, the Bank of England surprised yesterday with a 50 bps rate hike. The message from the leading central banks, reiterated by the Fed in its recent Congressional testimony, is that they will not let down on containing inflation and there is a long way to go before the inflation target of 2 per cent is reached," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading lower. The US markets ended on a mixed note on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.70 per cent to $73.62 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 693.28 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated by 8 paise to 82.05 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, tracking a strong American currency and withdrawal of foreign funds from domestic equities. Negative sentiments in the domestic as well as global equity markets also weighed on the Indian currency. 

On Thursday, the rupee settled at 81.97 against the dollar. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.20 per cent at 102.59.