Sensex slips 366 points, Nifty settles below 19,300; Shoppers Stop falls 13%

Domestic equity markets settled sharply lower on Friday amid the negative global cues. All round selling across the board dragged the headline indices sharply lower as the traders awaited Jerome Powell's speech due later in the day. Fears that the Fed chairman could highlight worries of rising inflation, and signal more rate hikes dented the market sentiments.

For the day, the 30-share pack BSE Sensex tanked 365.83 points, or 0.56 per cent, to settle at 64,886.51, while NSE's Nifty tumbled 120.90 points, or 0.262 per cent, to end the day at 19,265.80. In the broader markets, the BSE midcap index dropped about a per cent, while the BSE smallcap index also settled in red. Fear gauge India VIX surged more than 3 per cent to 12.08-levels.

Markets traded under pressure, in continuation of Thursday’s decline. Nifty opened gap-down and remained range bound till the end. It finally settled around the day’s low to close at 19265.80 levels. All sectors traded in sync with the benchmark wherein realty, metal and pharma were the top losers, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking.

"Nifty has breached the crucial support of the short-term moving average that is 50-EMA on Friday, which indicates the tone to remain negative. We are eyeing 19,100 as the next support. However, a mixed trend on the sectoral front would continue to offer trading opportunities on both sides," he said.

All the sectoral indices settled in red for the day. The Nifty PSU index dropped about 2 per cent, while the Nifty pharma, metal, reality and healthcare indices dropped more than a per cent each. The Nifty auto, IT and consumer durable indices also weighed on the market sentiments.

There is already great degree of pessimism with regards to slowing global growth due to rising inflation and higher interest rate scenario, and investors taking no chance further resorted to profit taking ahead of the outcome of the Federal Reserve Chairman Jereme Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole symposium, said Amol Athawale,  Vice President - Technical Research, Kotak Securities.

In the Nifty50 pack, Larsen & Toubro, Dr Reddy's and JSW Steel dropped more than 2 per cent, while Adain Ports, Adani Entertainments, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consumer Products, HCL Technologies and Tata Motors posted similar cuts during the session.

Bajaj Finserv rose more than 2 per cent during the day, while Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and ONGC added about a per cent each.

Investor caution is evident globally, as concerns about potential rate hikes dominate the prevailing sentiment ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Furthermore, the minutes from the RBI MPC meeting reiterated their dedication to managing inflation within the target range, given the elevated domestic inflation levels. However, the expectation of a rate hike remains subdued, as the current high inflation is perceived as transitory," he said.

A total of 3,763 shares were traded on BSE on Thursday, of which 2,150 settled with cuts. 1,490 stocks ended the session with cuts while 123 shares remained unchanged. A total of 263 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 213 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, Shares of Shopper's Stop dropped 13 per cent after resignation of its key managerial personnels. Welspun Enterprises tanked 7 per cent, while BF Utilities, Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar, LT Foods and Gulf Oil Lubricants shed 6 per cent each. Mukand and Venus Remedies declined 5 per cent each for the day.

On the contrary, Parag Milk Foods soared 16 per cent, while Jaiprakash Associates surged over 13 per cent. Vindhya Telelinks rose 12 per cent, whereas Electrosteel Castings and KFin Technologies gained 11 per cent each. Nelcast and Gabriel India settled 10 per cent higher.

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