Comments
The lack of policy announcements to revive economic growth continues to rattle equity market investors. On Thursday, key benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell by 1.6 per cent each to close at their lowest level since February. The Nifty fell by 177 points to close at 10,741. The Sensex fell 587 points to end at 36,472.
Foreign portfolio investors sold stocks worth ₹902 crore in the cash segment on Thursday. The markets did not get any respite despite domestic investors buying stocks worth ₹1,700 crore.
All eyes on the US Fed
Sentiment in the global markets, too, was fragile on fears of a recession hitting the world in the next few months. World-over, investors are looking towards Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who is likely to make a statement on the US economy or on a likely stimulus package at the US central bank’s annual meet at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The meeting is the first time that investors, economists, citizens and even the US President will hear Powell speak since the July FOMC meeting, where he delivered the first interest rate cut since the Great Recession, reports suggest.
FPIs have been selling equities since the Union Budget of July 5 raised their taxes. The Finance Minister and Prime Minister had recently made statements that the Centre would announce measures to curb the economic slowdown and revive growth. But the markets are nervous as no concrete steps have been announced so far, over six weeks after the Budget hit sentiment, market experts said.
“Retail investors are buying stocks daily thinking the day’s fall could be the bottom and a sharp rebound is in the offing... but they just keep burning their fingers,” said a Mumbai-based dealer.
DLF stocks crash
Shares of DLF, India’s largest real-estate developer, crashed 16 per cent on Wednesday after BusinessLine reported that the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the company on non-disclosure of material information in its prospectus. DLF denied that it had omitted any material information and said it would reply to the court appropriately.
YES Bank’s shares, already in a free fall, slumped another 14 per cent to close at ₹56. The bank recently sold 10 per cent of its equity to large investors at ₹84 per share.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.