Recession fears hits equities; Sensex sinks 1,093 points, Nifty gives up 17,600

Bears prowled on Dalal Street on Friday as recession fears hammered global equities. Key indices crumbled under heavy selling pressure today with banks (especially in the public sector), auto, IT, metal, and realty stocks plunging the most on the bourses. Their respective indices on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) declined around 2-4 per cent.

At the headline level, the S&P BSE Sensex crashed 1,247 points intra-day before ending at 58,841, down 1,093 points or 1.82 per cent. The NSE Nifty50, too, sunk to a low of 17,505 before shutting shop at 17,551, down 326 points or 1.82 per cent.

The broader markets witnessed an equally brutal on-slaught with the Nifty MidCap 100 and SmallCap 100 falling in the range of 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent. Volatility index — India VIX — surged 8 per cent today to settle near 20-odd level.

Shares of DB Realty were locked in the 5-per cent upper circuit band for a fifth straight day, at Rs 109.50 on the BSE, on Friday on the back of heavy volumes. The S&P BSE Sensex, in comparison, was down 1.3 per cent at 59,181 points at 1:10 PM.

Shares of Midhani, Mazagon Dock, Cochin Shipyard rallied up to 10% in a weak market. The defence procurement budget is likely to increase considerably for FY24E with the share of imports coming down further, according to analysts.

IndusInd Bank gained 2% on strong outlook as the stock was up 53% in 3 months. Analysts expect the bank’s credit growth and profitability to be strong on account of revived demand in MFI and vehicle finance.

Vedanta tanked 6% on clarifying semiconductor manufacturing would be done by holding company Volcan. Vedanta explained that the proposed business of manufacturing semiconductors is not under Vedanta Limited. It will be undertaken by the ultimate holding company of Vedanta Limited, Volcan Investments Limited.

Here are some picks from the week gone by.