Bear run enters sixth day as Sensex fall 142 points, Nifty near 17,450

Domestic equities’ losing run entered sixth straight session on Friday as growth concerns, amid fears of elevated interest rates, hurt sentiment. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 142 points, or 0.24 per cent, to close at 59,464, while the Nifty50 declined 45 points, or 0.26 per cent, to end at 17,466.

Adani Enterprises (down 5 per cent), Hindalco, JSW Steel, M&M, Tata Steel, SBI Life, L&T, Tata Motors, BPCL, HDFC Life, HDFC, and HDFC Bank were the top laggards. On the flipside, ONGC, Divis Labs, Asian Paints, Coal India, Adani Ports, Bajaj Auto, Power Grid, and NTPC eked out gains.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index dipped 0.17 per cent, and the BSE SmallCap index eased 0.15 per cent. Sectorally, the Nifty Metal index plunged 3 per cent, followed by the Nifty PSU Bank index (down 0.8 per cent).

Shares of Mahindra Lifespace Developers (MLDL) dropped 8 per cent to Rs 348.30 in Friday’s intra-day trade, after the company’s current Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) Arvind Subramanian resigned.

Olectra, in partnership with RIL, unveiled the hydrogen bus; stock zoomed 20%. The company said the 12-metre low-floor bus has a seating capacity of 32 to 49 seats for passengers and one driver seat with its commercial launch is expected within a year.

Shares of PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar, hit an over five-month high of Rs 586.60 on Friday on the back of heavy volumes. The stock of fintech company was trading at its highest level since September 13, 2022.

Vascon Engineers rose 3% on order win from Pune Metropolitan. The company has bagged an order worth Rs 95.92 crore from Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority for the construction of residential quarters.

Here are some picks from the week gone by.