Sensex, Nifty extend losses for 6th session; Macrotech Developers, IRB Infra, Adani Enterprises dive up to 11%
Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Friday, extending their losing run to the sixth straight session. The indices were dragged by shares of banks, metals, consumer goods and automobile stocks. Fears of aggressive interest rate hikes by global central banks kept investors on the tenterhooks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex pack fell 142 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 59,464; while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 45 points or 0.26 per cent down to close at 17,466. Mid and smallcap shares fell, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index dropping down 0.21 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 shedding 0.17 per cent. India VIX slipped 5.90 per cent to 14.19. Asian stocks settled mostly lower amid fears of longer-than-expected rate hike cycle.
Selling pressure in select index heavyweights such as the HDFC twins and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also dragged the indices lower.
“The domestic market is broadly demonstrating a lack of confidence, registering its sixth consecutive day of losses despite global markets turning green. Continued selling in the domestic market by FIIs is acting as an overhang in sustaining the early gains,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
A total of 11 out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the red. Nifty Metal, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG and Nifty PSU Bank underperformed the Nifty index by falling 3 per cent, 0.87 per cent, 0.35 per cent and 0.88 per cent, respectively.
A majority of Adani Group stocks continued to decline 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. Adani Enterprises and Adani Power also slumped 5 per cent, respectively.
Among non-Adani Group names, Macrotech Developers crashed by 10.81 per cent. IRB Infrastructure Developers cracked 5.56 per cent. Hindalco, Patanjali Foods and Punjab & Sind Bank fell up to 4.91 per cent. Index heavyweights HDFC twins and TCS declined up to 0.93 per cent.
On the flip side, Mahindra CIE Automotive, Indiabulls Real Estate and PB Fintech jumped up to 15.81 per cent. Stocks such as Campus Activewear, Sheela Foam, Hitachi Energy India and Gail climbed up to 7.58 per cent.
Out of a total of 3,613 stocks that traded during the day, 1,955 settled with cuts while 1,490 others ended higher. The rest 168 stocks stayed unchanged. A total of 12 stocks hit their upper circuit limits on BSE and 3 stocks touched their lower circuit limits.
Also read: Auto component firm Divgi TorqTransfer Systems’ IPO to open on March 1
Also read: SpiceJet shares surge 15% as Q3 profit spikes five-fold
