New Delhi:
Indian stock benchmarks traded lower on deal opening Friday along with global markets. Asian stocks got off to a shaky start today as investors grew increasingly nervous about the global economic outlook. Wall Street posted an overnight drop of 21 percent in the first six months of this year — the worst since 1970.
Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) pointed to a gap-down start for domestic indices.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 331 points, or 0.62 percent, to 52,688 in the early session, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 113 points, or 0.71 percent, to trade at 15,668.
Mid and small cap stocks traded weakly today as Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.56 percent and small cap lost 0.45 percent.
13 of the 15 sector meters – compiled by the National Stock Exchange – were in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto and Nifty Consumer Durables underperformed the NSE platform, falling 0.83 percent, 1.16 percent and 1.29 percent, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, Titan was the top loser as the stock cracked 2.59 percent to Rs 1,891. Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy’s, Tata Motors and HDFC were also among those left behind.
Overall market size was slightly positive as 1,084 shares rose, while 1,061 shares fell on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, Titan, Dr Reddy’s, M&M, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Maruti, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and Sun Pharma were among the biggest losers.
Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, Wipro and IndusInd Bank, on the other hand, traded in the green.
Shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s largest insurer and the largest domestic financial investor, also rose 0.23% to trade at Rs 675.15.
Sensex was down 150 points, or 0.28 percent, on Thursday to close at 53,027, while Nifty had moved down 51 points, or 0.32 percent, to settle at 15,799.