Sensex tanks 1,017 points; Nifty holds 16,200; Bajaj Finance sinks 4%, RIL 3%

Global doom rocked Indian equities on Friday as investors fretted over longer-than-expected sticky inflation, coupled with aggressive monetary policy tightening. Tracking losses in global peers, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex plunged 1,114 points intra-day, before settling at 54,303, down 1,017 points or 1.84 per cent.

The NSE Nifty50, meanwhile, held the 16,200-mark to close at 16,202, down 276 points or 1.68 per cent. The index had hit a low of 16,173 during the day. In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 100 and SmallCap100 fell up to 1 per cent.

Over 35 Nifty stocks ended the session in the red with Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Kotak Bank, Hindalco, Wipro, Reliance Industries, Tech M, and Infosys falling between 2.5-4 per cent. The losses were trimmed by gains in Grasim Industries, Asian Paints, Apollo Hospitals, Divis Labs, and Dr Reddy’s Labs, that gained over 0.5 per cent each.

Sectorally, all but Nifty FMCG ended the session in the red. The losses were led by the Nifty IT, Oil & gas, Private Bank, and Financial Services indices as they fell 2 per cent each.

Shares of Vadilal Industries hit a record high in a weak market. The shares have zoomed 114% in 6 months. For the entire financial year 2021-22, the company reported a nearly 10-fold jump in net profit at Rs 44.70 crore from Rs 4.63 crore in FY21.

Shares of J Kumar Infra hit a four-year high as the shares surged 38% in twelve days on a strong Q4. Strong cash position and unutilised working capital limits facilitate headroom for undertaking large projects and executing existing projects, analysts said.

IIFL Finance rallied 8% as the home loan arm inked a Rs 2,200 cr Abu Dhabi deal. IIFL Home Finance proposes to use the additional capital to continue its granular expansion strategy into new markets to address the significant and growing demand for housing loans.

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