Shares of Reliance Industries single-handedly knocked Sensex and Nifty lower on Friday after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Amazon, stalling Reliance Retail’s Rs 24,000 crore deal with Future Retail. Further, while RBI’s policy decision was along expected lines, the 5:1 vote on maintaining accommodative stance and rise in CPI projection for FY22 to 5.7 per cent from 5.1 per cent earlier also concerned markets, indicating that debate on inflation is gaining centre stage.
The domestic benchmark indices snapped their 4-session winning run. The 30-pack Sensex closed the day at 54,278, down 215 points or 0.39 per cent. Meanwhile, NSE Nifty settled the day 56 points or 0.35 per cent at 16,238.
IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Maruti were the top gainers in the 30-pack Sensex while Reliance Industries, Ultratech Cement, Tata Steel, HCL Tech were the top losers.
The broader markets outperformed, with Nifty Midcap index rising 0.06 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 0.04 per cent. Sectorally, Nifty Realty and Nifty Media were the top losers while Nifty IT was the best performer.
Overall, for the five days ended Friday, Nifty ended the historic week, up 1.97 per cent high, above 16,000 mark for the worst time and also snapped its two-week losing run.
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Snapping their 3-day winning streak, domestic equity markets traded range-bound in the negative territory on Friday, with a few episodes of gains. Amid mixed global cues and record Covid-19 cases back home, coupled with reports of a vaccine supply crunch, the benchmark indices dropped 0.3 per cent today.
Among headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 49,591 level, down 155 points. 50 per cent of the constituents ended the day in the red with Bajaj Finance (down 3 per cent), Ultratech Cement, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Reliance Industries leading the list of losers. On the upside, Sun Pharma, HUL, Tech Mahindra, Titan Company, Dr Reddy’s Labs, and HCL Tech were the top gainers on the index, up in the range of 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent.
On the NSE, the 50-share barometer settled at 14,835 levels, down 39 points dragged down by UPL, Tata Steel, Coal India, and Axis Bank.
Trends in the broader markets were mixed as the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed 0.7 per cent higher while the S&P BSE MidCap index dipped 0.07 per cent.
The SmallCap index hit fresh record peak of 21,667, for second day in a row on the back of gains in Srei Infra, Butterfly Gandhimathi, Kilitch Drugs, Subex, Bank of Maharashtra, Aarti Surfactants, Vimta Labs, and Sasken Technologies.
Sectorally, investors appeared to be defensive with the Nifty Pharma index ending over 3 per cent up. The Nifty IT and FMCG indices, meanwhile, settled 0.8 per cent higher each.
On the downside, the Nifty Bank, Private Bank, and Auto indices slipped up to 1 per cent.
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An across-the-board sell-off dragged the benchmark indices around a per cent lower on Friday as sombre global mood hit markets during the second-half of the trading session. US 10-year Treasury yields rose again on Friday, back above 1.6 per cent, and were on track to rise for the seventh straight week. Add to it, the dollar index rose 0.4 per cent denting sentiment further.
Against this backdrop, gains in Asian stock markets proved tough to match for most of European peers, after they hit a 1-year high in the prior session. Nasdaq Futures, which tumbled over 1.5 per cent, or 200 points, also suggested a lower start for Wall Street later in the day.
Japan’s Nikkei added 1.7 per cent – but this faded out as Europe opened for business. Britain’s FTSE 100 and the STOXX Europe 600 slipped around 0.5 per cent each, weighing on the MSCI World Index, which was down 0.1 per cent.
Back home, the equity indices snapped their three-day winning streak and settled 0.9 per cent lower. The frontline S&P BSE Sensex dropped 487 points, or 0.95 per cent, to end the day at 50,792 levels. From the intra-day high of 51,822, the index plunged 1,284 points to hit an intra-day low of 50,538.
On the NSE, the Nifty index held the 15,000-mark to close at 15,031 levels, down 144 points, or 0.95 per cent. In the intra-day trade, the index hit a low of 14,954.
26 of the 30 constituents on the Sensex and 42 of the 50 constituents on the Nifty ended the day in the red. Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Life, SBI Life, Maruti Suzuki, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, SBI, and Reliance Industries, all down between 2 per cent and 3 per cent, were the top laggards on the indices.
On the flipside, PowerGrid, Titan Company, Infosys, ONGC, Indian Oil Corp, BPCL, and JSW Steel remained the top gainers on the benchmark indices.
In the broader markets, the S&P BSE SmallCap index fended the fall and settled 0.14 per cent higher supported by gains in Apollo Pipes, Jindal Poly Firms, MTNL, BGR Energy Systems, Delta Corp, and Meghmani Organics.
The MidCap counterpart, however, fell 0.45 per cent.
Sectorally, all the NSE indices were painted red with the Nifty Auto and PSU Bank indices down around 2 per cent each. The Nifty Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, Metal, and Private Bank indices, on the other hand, slipped nearly 1 per cent.
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The benchmark indices settled over 0.5 per cent higher on Friday after Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced a string of populist measures in his Interim Budget 2019 speech in the Parliament.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,469, up 213 points or 0.59 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,894, up 63 points or 0.58 per cent.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 14,641, up 81 points or 0.56 per cent, while the S&P BSE SmallCap settled at 13,950, up 24 points or 0.17 per cent.
Among sectors, the Nifty Auto index was the top gainer of the day, rising 2.71 per cent led by Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuki. The Nifty IT index too rose 1.45 per cent led by HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra.
In a major relief to the middle-class taxpayer, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, in his Interim Budget 2019 speech announced that those earning up to Rs 5 lakh a year would not have to pay any tax. He also said that those with an annual income of up to Rs 6.5 lakh would not have to file income-tax returns.
Goyal also announced PM Kisan Samadhan Nidhi scheme in which, farmers owning up to 2 hectares of land will get Rs 6,000 per annum, which will be completely funded by the central government. This scheme is likely to benefit 12 crore small and marginal farmers, at an estimated cost of Rs. 75,000 crore, he said. Apart from this, he also said that the government has set aside Rs 60,000 crore for MGNREGA this year, and allocated Rs 19,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
The finance minister also said that the country’s defence budget for FY20 has been increased to Rs 3 lakh crore.
The government allocated Rs 64,587 crore for railways in FY20, Goyal said adding that the railway operating ratio was seen 96.2 per cent in FY19 vs 95 per cent in FY20.
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The benchmark indices on Friday extended losses to end lower as global markets dipped after the United States launched cruise missiles against an airbase in Syria, while back home expectations of no further rate cuts this year by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also impacted the sentiment.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 29,706, down 221 points, while the broader Nifty50 settled at 9,198, down 64 points.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices pared all intraday gains to end 0.3% and 0.5% lower.
The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative. On the BSE, 1,620 shares declined and 1,293 shares rose. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.
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The benchmark indices on Friday settled higher thanks to gains in banking stocks following news reports that the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has promised to offer a solution to the growing non-performing assets (NPA) crisis in next few days.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 29,421, up 89 points, while the broader Nifty50 settled at 9,108, up 22 points. Both the indices logged their first weekly loss in March, retreating from a record high hit last week.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap ended 0.1% down, while the S&P BSE Smallcap index gained 0.3%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative. On the BSE, 1,471 shares declined and 1,346 shares advanced. A total of 218 shares were unchanged.
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