Stock Market: Sensex Falls Over 100 Points; Nifty Below 19,600 On Higher Crude Prices. Nestle Up 2%

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, ITC, HUL, PowerGrid, HCLTech, TechM, Tata Steel were among early losers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday extended their losses as crude oil prices and bond yields in the US continued to move higher. At 9.45 am, the BSE Sensex dropped 110 points to 65,519. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 19,580, down 45 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, ITC, HUL, PowerGrid, HCLTech, TechM, Tata Steel were among early losers. On the flip side, Nestle, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Kotak Bank, TCS, Reliance emerged early gainers. Nestle stocks jumped over 2 per cent following the  FMCG major reported a 37.28 per cent increase in its net profit on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in its third quarter (Q3) earnings on Thursday. 

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index was down 0.14 per cent, while the Smallcap index rose 0.32 per cent.

Sectorwise, FMCG, metal, and power declined in morning trade.

In the previous session on Thursday, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped about 248 points to close at 65,629, on the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 settled at 19,624.

"The US 10-year yield hovering around 5 per cent continues to be a headwind for equity markets. The volatile situation in West Asia, though being largely ignored by the market now, can pose additional near-term challenges," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading in the negative territory. The US markets ended lower on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.90 per cent to $93.21 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,093.47 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated by 5 paise to 83.18 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday due to unabated foreign fund outflow amid rising crude oil prices. Negative equity market sentiment and a strong dollar also weighed on the Indian currency, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 83.17 against the dollar and then touched the lowest level of 83.20 against the greenback. It later traded at 83.18 against dollar, registering a loss of 5 paise over its previous close. On Thursday, the rupee settled 15 paise higher at 83.13 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.03 per cent to 106.28.