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Benchmark indices ended lower for the third consecutive session on Friday, dragged by financials, barring PSU Bank, IT and Oil & Gas stocks.
Today, the market opened on a weak note today, which marks the beginning of a new derivative series on the NSE. Benchmarks indices extended losses further during closing hours, falling over 1 per cent while the broader market too witnessed selling pressure.
The BSE Sensex closed at 59,306.93, down 677.77 points or 1.13 per cent. It hit an intraday high of 60,132.81 and a low of 59,089.37. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,671.65, down 185.60 points or 1.04 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 17,915.85 and a low of 17,613.10.
Decliners outnumber
The market breadth continued to favour the decliners, with 1,819 stocks declining on the BSE, 1,427 advancing, and 153 remaining unchanged. Furthermore, 243 stocks hit the lower circuit compared to the 239 stocks locked in the upper circuit. Besides, 153 stocks touched a 52-week high level, and 43 touched a 52-week low.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "The domestic market continued to witness selling as energy and private bank stocks remained under pressure following dull global sentiments.”
“European markets opened weak even as the ECB decided to keep policy rates unchanged despite the inflationary pressure. US futures are trading in red following slow GDP growth and disappointing earnings from tech giants. Decisions of the Fed in its meeting next week will be a major factor that will drive global equities in the coming days," added Nair.
Sustained FII selling and rich valuations have impacted market sentiments. This comes after foreign brokerages, most recently Morgan Stanley, apart from Nomura and UBS have downgraded India on excessive valuations.
Dr Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management, said, “The equity markets trended lower for the week owing to selling pressure from FIIs. The FIIs have been net sellers to the tune of more than Rs. 20K crores for the month of October.”
“The valuation risks have been one the main concerns for foreign investors, triggered by the downgrading of Indian equity markets from “overweight” to “neutral” by key global brokerages. The valuation risks are specifically coming to the fore now as few sections of the markets expect growth momentum to slow in the wake of sticky inflation,” added Dr Thomas.
UltraTech Cement, UPL, Cipla, Shree Cement and Dr Reddy were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while Tech Mahindra, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank and Reliance were the top losers.
PSU Banks in focus
On the sectoral front, apart from PSU banks, stocks from the pharma and realty sectors were resilient amid gloom all around.
Nifty PSU Bank was up 1.45 per cent at closing. Meanwhile, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were down 1 per cent and 1.03 per cent, respectively. Nifty Private Bank was down 1.42 per cent. Nifty IT closed 1.45 per cent lower while Nifty Oil & Gas was down 0.66 per cent.
Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare Index were up 0.72 per cent and 0.47 per cent, respectively. Nifty Realty was up 0.44 per cent.
Broader indices
Broader indices also faced selling pressure closing in the red.
Nifty Midcap 50 was down 0.01 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 0.29 per cent. However, the S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.16 per cent even as the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 0.38 per cent.
The volatility index softened 2.72 per cent to 17.43.
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