Sensex dips 427 points, Nifty below 17,650; HUL adds 3%, Bajaj Finserv down 5%

Global headwinds weighed on Indian equities for fourth straight day on Friday as all sectors, barring selective FMCG counters, slid into the negative territory.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended the session with 427-points cut at 59,037 level with 10 index constituents ending the session in the green. The 30-pack index had briefly breached below the 59,000-mark intra-day and hit a low of 58,621.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 gave up the 17,650-mark to end at 17,617, down 140 points. The broader markets bled even more with both the mid and smallcap indices closing 2 per cent lower each on the BSE.

Overall, 2,329 stocks ended in the red on the BSE as against less than 1,048 stocks in the green. Fear gauge, India VIX, soared 6 per cent to end near 19-mark.

Sectorally, only the Nifty FMCG index ended in the green, up 0.36 per cent. The losses, on the oher hand, were led by the Nifty PSU Bank index, down 3 per cent. All other indices slipped between 0.5-2.4 per cent.

Bajaj Finserv, Tech M, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, and Axis Bank were the top large-cap draggers while Zee Entertainment, Canara Bank, Concor, Info Edge, Sasken Technologies, Hindustan Oil Exploration, and Polycab India were the mid- and small-cap losers. All these stocks were down in the range of 2-11 per cent.

On the upside, HUL was the top Sensex gainer, ending 3 per cent higher. FMCG major Hindustan Unilever had, on Thursday, reported 17 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 2,243 crore for the quarter ending December 31, 2021 as it gained market share in both urban and rural areas as India emerged from coronavirus-related lockdowns.

Maruti Suzuki, HDFC twins, Nestle India, and Kotak Bank were other major large-cap gainers.

In the broader market, Biocon, Ajanta Pharma, Alkem Labs, Jamna Auto, Thomas Cook, and Hitachi Energy India ended up to 8 per cent higher.

Within the pack, the shares of Hitachi Energy India hit a record high of Rs 3,209, up nearly 14 per cent intra-day after the company won orders worth over Rs 160 crore for its key electric components to support the electrification of the country’s rail routes.

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