The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday plunged into the negative territory, mostly because of weak Q1FY24 results by Infosys which pulled the benchmark indices down. At 9.48 am, the BSE Sensex was down 542 points to 67,029. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 tumbled 140 points to 19,840.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Infosys tanked 7 per cent in opening deals after the IT firm cut its FY24 outlook to 1-3.5 per cent in constant currency from 4-7 per cent it had guided in the previous quarter. HCL, Wipro, TSC, Tech M, HUL, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, and HDFC Bank were the other top losers. On the flipside, L&T, SBI, PowerGrid, Maruti, Nestle, NTPC emerged gainers.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices declined 0.3 per cent and 0.07 per cent, respectively.
Sectorwise, the Nifty IT Index crashed 4.5 per cent, followed by the Nifty Pharma and FMCG indices (down 0.3 per cent each).
In the previous session on Thursday, the Sensex closed at 67,572, up 474 points, while the Nifty50 ended at 19,979, up 146 points.
Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 12 paise to 82.05 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday as a negative trend in domestic equities and firm crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.03, then touched 82.05, registering a decline of 12 paise over its last close.
On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 81.93 against the dollar. As inflows dominate and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continues to hold US dollar near 81.90, the rupee is likely to remain range-bound, said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.