Fears that a new strain could fuel outbreaks in many countries, straining health systems, potentially evading vaccines and complicating efforts to reopen economies and borders, sent a wave of risk aversion across global markets Friday.
Falling in-line with all global peers, the BSE Sensex plunged 1,688 points, or 2.9 per cent, to end today’s bloodbath at 57,107 levels. The index hit a high and low of 58,255 and 56,994, respectively.
The Nifty50, too, erased 510 points, or 2.9 per cent, to close at 17,026. During the day, the index slipped below the 17,000-mark (at 16,986), a first since August this year.
The stocks witnessed their biggest intra-day fall since April 12, 2021, and also their biggest weekly fall since January 29, 2021.
The meltdown was equally bad in the broader markets, where the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices fell 3.2 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively.
The key benchmark indices exhibited high volatility in trades on Thursday. The key indices witnessed wilted under severe selling pressure in the first-half of the day, before staging a partially mid-way, only to lose ground once again.
The BSE benchmark index, the Sensex, touched a high of 60,178 in early deals, and soon slipped into the negative zone. The index dropped to a low of 59,377, and eventually ended lower for the third straight trading session, down 372 points at 59,636.
In the process, the Sensex shed 1,082 points in the last three trading sessions, and was down 1.7 per cent (1,051 points) for the week. The markets will be shut for trading on Friday on account of Guru Nanak Jayanti.
The NSE Nifty declined 134 points to 17,765, and was down 1.9 per cent (338 points) for the week.
The broader indices ended with deeper cuts, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 1.5 per cent each. Among sectors, the Metal index shed 2.8 per cent, and the Auto index tumbled 2.3 per cent. All sectoral indices ended in the negative zone.
The markets snapped its 3-day losing streak with strong gains led in IT shares and select index heavyweights. The BSE benchmark index, the Sensex, opened 330-odd points higher at 60,248, and after consolidating in the morning session, the index began its upward journey. The BSE index scaled a high of 60,751, and finally ended with a solid gain of 767 points at 60,687.
The NSE Nifty surged to a high of 18,123, and eventually settled with a gain of 229 points at 18,103. For the week, the 50-share index was up a per cent (186 points).
Tech Mahindra was the major gainer among the Sensex 30 stocks, up 4 per cent at Rs 1,583. Index heavyweights, HDFC, Infosys, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries gained 2 to 3 per cent, each. Bajaj Finsev, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma , Larsen & Toubro and Nestle India were the other major gainers.
On the other hand, Bajaj Auto skid 3 per cent to Rs 3,640. Tata Steel slipped a per cent to Rs 1,286 despite reporting 8-fold jump in Q2 net profit.
The broader markets under-performed the benchmark indices by a wide margin. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.6 per cent and the Smallcap index added 0.3 per cent, while the Sensex had rallied 1.3 per cent.
Among sectors, the BSE IT index surged 2 per cent. Telecom, Realty and Power indices were up around 1.5 per cent each, while Energy and Capital Goods indices too moved 1.3 per cent higher.
The markets started Samvat 2078 on an upbeat note in the backdrop of a sharp cut in excise duty on fuel prices and a scale down in its bond-buying program by the US Federal stimulus as per expected.
At the end of its two-day meeting, the US Fed said monthly $120 billion purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities would be trimmed by $15 billion a month.
The BSE Sensex opened at the day’s high of 60,208 and ended 296 points higher at 60,068. The NSE Nifty gained 88 points at 17,917.
The broader markets also ended on a firm note. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.7 per cent at 25,992, and the Smallcap index added 1.4 per cent to 28,901.
“After a great year for equity markets, investors are looking forward to markets continue rising though not at the same pace,” said Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities.
The markets exhibited a high amount of volatility for the second day in a row on the back of unabated selling pressure in select index heavyweights. The BSE Sensex tumbled to a low of 59,089, but eventually ended 678 points lower at 59,307. In the process, the BSE index has now shed 5 per cent (2,938 points) from its recent peak of 62,245.
The NSE Nifty logged its second straight weekly loss, down 185 points at 17,672. The Nifty has declined 3.8 per cent (677 points) in the last two weeks. In intra-day trades on Friday, the 50-share index dipped to a low of 17,613, and was within striking distance of its 50-DMA (Daily Moving Average) at 17,570-odd levels.
The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices in trades today. The BSE Midcap index edged 0.2 per cent higher, while the Smallcap index ended slipped 0.4 per cent, as against a 1.1 per cent decline in the Sensex.
Among sectors, the BSE Energy index plunged 1.9 per cent, and the IT index shed 1.6 per cent. The Bankex was down over a per cent. The Auto, Healthcare and Realty indices ended marginally in the positive zone.
The overall breadth was marginally negative at close. Out of 3,399 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,796 declined, while 1,452 advanced.
Financial shares came to the rescue of the benchmark indices for the second straight day, as select index heavyweights weighed under selling pressure.
The BSE benchmark index, the Sensex, opened 120-odd points higher at 61,044, and rallied to a high of 61,420 on the back of fresh buying in early trades. Selling pressure re-emerged in second half of the trading session, with ITC, technology and metal stocks leading the fall. The BSE 30-share index slid to a low of 60,551 – down 869 points from the day’s high.
The Sensex eventually ended with a minor loss of 100 points at 60,822. The NSE Nifty from a high of 18,314, dropped to a low of 18,034, and finally settled 63 points lower at 18,115. The India VIX declined 1.8 per cent to 17.70.
Among sectors, the Bank Nifty rallied to a fresh all-time high at 40,587, and ended 0.7 per cent higher at 40,315. The Realty index surged 2.4 per cent to 509.75. On the flip side, the NSE Metal index tumbled over 3 per cent to 5,686. The Media index shed 2.3 per cent, while the ITC and Pharma indices were down 1.5 per cent each.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down over a per cent each. The overall breadth too was fairly negative, with 1,967 declining stocks versus 1,327 advancing shares on the BSE.
Market bulls reigned on the bourses for the sixth consecutive session on Thursday as strong Q2 show by Infosys and Wipro, along with hopes of a better-than-anticipated economic recovery, lifted sentiment. The benchmark BSE Sensex reached the 61,000-mark milestone for the first time while the Nifty50 index surpassed 18,300 today.
An across-the-board rally lifted the 30-share pack 569 points or 0.94 per cent on the bourses, helping the index to settle at 61,306 levels. The Nifty50, meanwhile, shut shop at 18,336 levels, up 174 points or 0.96 per cent. Both the indices hit fresh record peaks of 61,353 and 18,351 in the intra-day deals.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index closed 0.54 per cent higher while the BSE SmallCap index added 0.46 per cent.
Overall, market breadth firmly favoured the bulls with 1,719 stocks advancing on the BSE compared with 1,637 stocks that declined. The BSE m-cap stood at Rs 272.8 trillion by close.
The RBI’s seemingly dovish policy, with repo and reverse repo rates unchanged at 4 per cent and 3.35 per cent, respectively, bolstered bull sentiment on Dalal Street on Friday. The central bank also retained the GDP growth forecast at 9.5 per cent for the on-going fiscal year and revised CPI inflation projection downward to 5.3 per cent for the whole fiscal (from 5.7 per cent) which further supported the sentiment.
Overall, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex closed the session at 60,059 levels, up 381 points, while the Nifty50 ended at 17,895 levels, up 105 points.
Reliance Industries, which hit a record high of Rs 2,684 apiece in the intra-day trade, settled nearly 4 per cent higher and contributed nearly 2/3rd towards Sensex’s gains today. Other contributors included Infosys, TCS, L&T, HCL Tech, and ICICI Bank.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index ended 0.15 per cent higher and the BSE SmallCap index added 0.92 per cent. Both the indices hit a record high of 25,956 and 29,358, respectively, earlier today.
The benchmark indices ended lower for the fourth straight day on Friday amid slowing global economic growth and inflation fears. At close, the Nifty50 index was down 86 points at 17,532 while the BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 361 points at 58,765. The broader markets, however, ended the day in the positive territory with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.5 per cent each.
Sectorally, buying was seen in pharma, metal, PSU Bank and energy sectors whereas selling was witnessed in realty, banking and IT space.
Shares of ZEEL fell 3% as Zee board rejected Invesco’s demand to hold EGM. Taking a confrontational stand against its largest shareholder, the Zee board on Friday rejected its demand to hold an extraordinary general meeting to remove current MD and CEO, Punit Goenka and induct its nominees.
Shares of Tata Power Company continued to climb higher, hitting a new 13-year high at Rs 165, up 4 per cent on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade, on improved outlook. The stock of Tata Group electric utilities company was trading higher for the fourth straight day and has rallied 19 per cent during the period. The previous record high was Rs 158 recorded on January 4, 2008.
India’s IPO market is again turning busy with Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC IPO schedule to open on 29 September for subscription. The offer, priced in the range of INR695 – 712 per share, aims to mobilize as much as INR2,768.26 crore by selling 38,880,000 shares. All the shares will be offered by existing shareholders, valuing the firm at nearly INR20,505.6 crore at the upper end of the price band. Following the successful listings of HDFC AMC and Reliance Nippon AMC, investors will be surely looking positively to this IPO as well. This is also visible in the strong grey market premium the offer is commanding. Through Aditya Birla AMC IPO review, we try to find out if the company’s valuation leaves something on the table for investors.