Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply on Friday, dragged down by all sectoral indices. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack slumped 793 points or 1.06 per cent to close at 74,245 while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 234 points or 1.03 per cent down to settle at 22,519-level.
Such was the fall in the domestic bourses that around Rs 2.5 lakh crore of BSE market capitalisation (m-cap) was wiped out. Investor wealth, as suggested by the BSE m-cap, fell Rs 2.51 lakh crore to Rs 399.68 lakh crore compared with a valuation of Rs 402.19 lakh crore recorded in the previous session.
Here are the key reasons behind the stock market fall:
Banks, financial, consumer, energy & pharma stocks plunge
All 16 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- closed in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty Pharma underperformed the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.86 per cent, 0.90 per cent, 1.09 per cent, 0.89 per cent, 1.23 per cent and 1.72 per cent, respectively.
Q4 earnings
Investors keenly awaited the March quarter results and commentary from IT major Tata Consultancy Services. TCS came up with its Q4 results after the closing bell today. The company, the first of the country's IT firms to report results, reported a 9.14 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 12,434 crore for the March quarter compared with Rs 11,392 crore in the same quarter last year. TCS shares rose 0.45 per cent at end at Rs 4,000.30.
"Results will be tepid for IT companies on weakness in client spending in the US. The market response will depend on the management commentary," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Inflation data
Market participants will also be watching consumer price (retail) inflation print for March, also scheduled to be released post-market hours.
Weak global cues
Most Asian shares traded lower today as hot US consumer price inflation data hurt expectations of an early rate cut by the Federal Reserve.