Stock Market Today, Sensex, Nifty Share Prices Updates: The topline equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell for the second consecutive day, declining around 0.7 per cent on Thursday weighed by IT bellwether Infosys and oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries (RIL) amid sluggish global cues.
The S&P BSE Sensex crashed 412.96 points (0.68 per cent) to end below the 60,000-level mark at 59,934.01 and the Nifty 50 slumped 126.35 points (0.70 per cent) to settle at 17,877.40. Both the indices had opened on a postive note earlier in the day rising over 0.3 per cent in the initial deals before erasing their gains and turning negative in the late morning trade.
On the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Ultratech Cement, Titan Company, HCL Technologies and Asian Pains were the top losers on Thursday. In contrast, Maruti Suzuki India, Power Grid Corporation of India, NTPC, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) were the top gainers of the day.
Among sectors, the Nifty Media fell 2.18 per cent, Nifty IT declined 1.43 per cent, Nifty Pharma slipped 1.29 per cent and Nifty Healthcare index dipped 1.34 per cent.
In the broader market however, the S&P BSE MidCap index rose 81.89 points (0.31 per cent) to end at 26,307.20 and the S&P BSE SmallCap inched up 19.14 points (0.06 per cent) to settle at 29,911.51.
“Fears of a recession in the global economy exacerbated selling pressure in IT and pharma stocks. Mid & small caps are expected to continue its trend in the short to medium term as they are trading reasonably well compared to large caps and at a discount to their historic valuation. Globally, in light of the elevated inflation in the US, investors are on an edge, assessing the possibility of a higher magnitude of a rate hike in the next Fed policy meeting,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Global Market (from Reuters)
Stock markets were sluggish and the dollar and bond yields shuffled higher on Thursday as the likelihood of a further jump in global borrowing costs, including a possible 100 basis point US rate hike next week, kept the bears on the prowl.
Europe’s main bourses made a positive start after two days in the red, but the Japanese yen – pummelled to a 24-year low this month – drooped again as Tokyo posted a record trade deficit overnight.
Among the main stock markets, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan turned during the session to finish down 0.2 per cent. The Nikkei rose 0.2 per cent though, while the main Hong Kong property index surged over 4 per cent after reports that some Chinese developers were finally being allowed to slash prices.
S&P 500 futures, Dow and Nasdaq futures were all broadly flat, pointing to a slow day on Wall Street later.
