Sensex, Nifty extend losses for 5th day; IRB Infra, Tejas Networks, Adani Total Gas dive up to 13%
Indian equity benchmarks traded lower on Thursday, extending their losing run for the fifth straight session amid a volatile day. The domestic indices were dragged by consumer durables and financials. Investors worried that central banks would have to keep raising interest rates to tackle inflation.
The 30-share BSE Sensex pack fell 139 points or 0.23 per cent to settle at 59,606; while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 43 points or 0.25 per cent down to close at 17,511. Mid and smallcap shares finished on a weak note, with the Nifty Midcap 100 down 0.15 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 shedding 0.08 per cent. India VIX slipped 3.28 per cent to 15.08. Asian stocks were mostly down amid fears of continued interest high rates.
Selling pressure in select index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank) and Infosys also dragged the indices lower.
“The equity market traded cautiously between gains and losses as the minutes of the central bank policy meeting revealed concerns over high inflation and its commitment to bring inflation under control. In response to the heightened fears of rate hikes, the US 10-year treasury yield continued to stay high, near 4 per cent,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
10 out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the red. Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Financial Services underperformed the Nifty index by falling 0.88 per cent and 0.40 per cent, respectively.
A majority of Adani Group stocks continued to dwindle today. Three Adani Group stocks — Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission and Adani Green — tanked 5 per cent, each, to hit their respective one-year low levels.
Among non-Adani Group names, IRB Infrastructure Developers crashed by over 13 per cent. Tejas Networks and Macrotech Developers fell up to 5.86 per cent. Index heavyweights Reliance, HDFC twins and Infosys and TCS declined up to 0.71 per cent.
On the flip side, Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores, Usha Martin, Infibeam Avenues and Shipping Corporation of India jumped up to 11.93 per cent. Stocks such as Raymond, Prism Johnson and Punjab & Sind Bank climbed up to 7.40 per cent.
Out of a total of 3,599 stocks that traded during the day, 1,862 settled with cuts while 1,580 others ended higher. The rest 157 stocks stayed unchanged. A total of 10 stocks hit their upper circuit limits on BSE and 3 stocks touched their lower circuit limits.
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