Sensex Tanks 1,021 pts At Close, Nifty Near 17,300; Investor Wealth Worth Rs 5 Lakh Crore Wiped Off

Sensex Today: Benchmark indices ended in the red for the third straight session on Friday amid selling across the sectors. At Close, the Sensex was down 1,020.80 points or 1.73 per cent at 58,098.92, and the Nifty was down 302.50 points or 1.72 per cent at 17,327.30.

Investors became poorer by Rs 4.83 trillion on Friday as equity markets went into a tailspin amid fears of a global recession.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices underperformed the frontline indices as they declined between 2 per cent and 2.3 per cent. Overall, there were three sellers for every one buyer on Dalal Street as over 2,472 stocks fell on the BSE as against 1,000 gainers.

Sectorally, the Nifty PSU Bank index plunged 4 per cent, while the Niftyy Bank, Private Bank, and Realty indices fell 2.6 per cent each.

The Nifty IT index fell just 0.7 per cent on the NSE today after analysts said Accenture’s Q4FY22 results showed better outsourcing revenue for larger Indian IT stocks.

Shares of Tata group were in spotlight on Friday after the multinational steel-major Tata Steel announced merging all its group metal companies with itself.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “A rise in the US 10-year bond yield and a strong dollar index influenced FIIs to flee emerging markets. A fall in liquidity in the banking system, a weak currency and a current premium valuation have set the market outlook bearish for the near term.”

“With aggressive monetary policy action by central banks, the global growth engines are in a slowdown mode, whereas India is currently in a better position with a pickup in credit growth and an uptick in tax collection. The current volatility might persist for a while. Investors are advised to wait and watch until the dust settles,” Nair said.

Global Cues

Australian shares hit a more than two-month low on Friday, as investors returning to trading after a one-day holiday exited riskier assets, following the US Federal Reserve reiterating its hawkish monetary policy outlook to fight searing inflation.

Major Wall Street indexes ended lower on Thursday, falling for a third straight session as investors reacted to the Federal Reserve’s latest aggressive move to rein in inflation by selling growth stocks, including technology companies.

Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Friday on the prospect that a stalled Iran nuclear agreement and Moscow’s new mobilization campaign in its invasion of Ukraine would further restrict global supplies.

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