India's Sensex and Nifty fell on Friday after two days of gains, as bank and financial stocks slid and crude oil traded above $80 a barrel. Foreign investors pulled money out even as several stocks bucked the trend and posted gains.
The BSE Sensex dropped 455.59 points, or 0.58%, to settle at 78,499.17, after tanking as much as 577.69 points, or 0.73%, during the day. The NSE Nifty dipped 65.35 points, or 0.27%, to end at 24,570.65, having declined 113.25 points, or 0.45%, intraday.
Bank and financial names led the losses. Bajaj Finance tanked 5.90% and Bajaj Finserv fell 4.18%, while ICICI Bank, Trent, Axis Bank, and Asian Paints also weighed on the index. Tata Consultancy Services, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, and Tech Mahindra bucked the trend and closed higher.
Crude oil and foreign selling add pressure
Brent crude, the global benchmark, slipped 0.35% to $82.20 a barrel. At the same time, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth ₹17.86 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Geopolitical risk and a new auction rule cloud sentiment
According to Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, renewed uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz negotiations and broad-based weakness in financial stocks overshadowed an otherwise supportive earnings backdrop, while fresh regulatory proposals for the non-bank lending sector added to investor caution. Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, said market sentiment stayed measured given the lack of a definitive geopolitical resolution in the Middle East, keeping crude prices volatile.
For the week, the two benchmarks diverged after exchanges introduced a new closing-auction mechanism for stocks with futures and options contracts. The closing auction session in the equity cash segment became operational on Monday, aiming to make closing-price discovery more transparent and robust.
Asian and global markets move in different directions
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's KOSPI and Japan's Nikkei 225 ended lower, while Shanghai's SSE Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled higher. European markets traded higher, even as U.S. markets closed lower on Thursday. On Thursday, the Sensex had climbed 373.76 points, or 0.48%, to 78,954.76, while the Nifty edged up 11.35 points, or 0.05%, to 24,636.
Source: Stock Market Today: Sensex, Nifty, BSE, NSE Latest Updates | The Hindu
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