Stock market continues to fall; Sensex slips 550 points, Nifty falls below 25650
New Delhi| The stock market declined in early trade on Friday amid continuous withdrawal of foreign funds and selling in Infosys shares. The market continued to fall for the fourth consecutive day. BSE Sensex fell 570.45 points to 80,436.16 in early trade. Whereas NSE Nifty fell by 178.3 points to 24,571.55.Earlier, amid fluctuations, the Nifty index opened at 24,664.95 points, down 0.34 per cent or 84 points, while the BSE Sensex index opened at 80,749.26, down 257 points or 0.32 per cent.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Titan, Infosys, Maruti, Nestle, ITC, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Unilever lagged the most. Infosys Ltd, India’s second-largest IT services exporter, on Thursday reported a nearly 5 per cent rise in its second-quarter net profit. Investors did not like this result, due to which the company’s shares weakened. Among blue-chip companies, shares of Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel were seen trading on the green mark.
Experts said FIIs continue to put pressure on Indian stocks, but the situation is expected to improve in the coming weeks and a sharp recovery is expected. Banking and market expert Ajay Bagga said, “We remain optimistic as FII selling has already crossed the halfway mark and as it subsides, domestic inflows will help in recovery”. When the recovery takes place it will be fast and focused, inspiring long-term investors to persist during the chilling volatility of the roller coaster market
Among the broad market indices on the NSE, all indices including Nifty Next 50, Nifty 100 opened in the red, facing selling pressure from investors. In sectoral indices, except Nifty FMCG and Nifty Private Bank indices, all other indices opened in the red. Selling pressure was seen on all major sectors. The biggest decline was seen in Nifty IT, with the index down more than 1.21 per cent in the opening session. 29 stocks fell in the Nifty 50 list, while 12 opened with gains and 9 remained unchanged.
Infosys Ltd, India’s second-largest IT services exporter, on Thursday reported a nearly 5 per cent rise in its second-quarter net profit. Among blue-chip companies, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel benefited. Axis Bank’s consolidated net profit rose 19.29 per cent to Rs 7,401.26 crore in the September quarter, but the bank reported difficulty in the unsecured lending segment. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 7,421.40 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
“Continued selling from FIIs due to high valuations in India was the main reason for the market decline”, said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services. In Asian markets, Seoul recorded a decline while Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong recorded gains. American markets closed with mostly gains on Thursday. Brent crude, the global oil standard, rose 0.20 percent to $74.60 a barrel. On Thursday, BSE Sensex had closed at 81,006.61 points, down 494.75 points or 0.61 percent. It fell by 595.72 points, or 0.73 percent, to 80,905.64 points during trading. NSE Nifty had fallen by 221.45 points or 0.89 per cent to 24,749.85.
The results of some major companies like Jio Financial Services, Hindustan Zinc, Tata Consumer, ICICI Insurance and L&T Finance are to come. Japan’s Nikkei index also closed Friday with gains of 0.38 percent. In U.S. markets, both indices closed flat on Thursday, with the S&P 500 closing with a slight gain and the Nasdaq index closing with a slight drop.
