Stock Market: Nifty Settles Below 21,750, Sensex Drops 170 Points

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, and Bajaj Finance emerged as the prime gainers. On the flip side, SBI, and IndusInd Bank remained among the losers during the day. 

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday, broke off the week’s rally and dropped during the day. The S&P BSE Sensex dipped 170 points to close at 72,240.26, while the NSE Nifty50 slipped over 50 points to settle at 21,726.45 at the end of the day. 

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Motors, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, and Bajaj Finance emerged as the prime gainers. On the flip side, State Bank of India, Infosys, Titan, Tech M, and IndusInd Bank remained among the losers during the day. 

In the broader markets, the Nifty 100 remained the only laggard and dropped 0.06 per cent during the day. The Nifty Midcap 150 led the indices and climbed 0.85 per cent, followed by the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 50 which gained 0.80 per cent and 0.78 per cent respectively. 

Sectorally, the Nifty Oil & Gas declined 0.97 per cent in the day, followed by the Nifty PSU Bank and IT indices, which dipped 0.64 per cent and 0.49 per cent respectively. Among the gainers, the Nifty Auto climbed over 1 per cent, followed by the Nifty FMCG which jumped 0.85 per cent respectively.

In the previous session on Thursday, the two equity benchmarks closed higher for the fifth consecutive session after reaching fresh lifetime peaks during the day. The S&P BSE Sensex logged a new record high of 72,484.34 and settled at 72,410.38, climbing 371.95 points in the day. The NSE Nifty50 reached a fresh high of 21,801.45 during the day before closing at 21,778.70, a gain of 123.95 points. 

Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, said, "The euphoria is expected to continue during the start of the next year on account of the exuberance of rate cuts and the drop in bond yields. Oil prices, on the other hand, fell by 10 per cent during the year, which could ease inflationary pressure and support the operating performance of the corporates.We feel that though the outlook on broader indexes is moderate in the short to medium term, the large caps will maintain their vibrancy due to strong earnings growth and in anticipation of the continuation of premium valuation."

The domestic rupee settled flat at 83.20 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 83.14,  hit a peak of 83.10, and touched the lowest level of 83.22 against the American dollar during the day. A day earlier, on Thursday, the Indian currency settled at 83.20 against the greenback.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.44 per cent to touch $77.49 a barrel. FIIs purchased equities worth Rs 4,358.99 crore on Thursday, official data from the exchange revealed.