The Indian benchmark indices declined on Thursday as the Sensex fell over 550 points to close trade over 83,600 while the Nifty declined over 140 points to end trade at 25,807 at 3:30 PM.
In the 30-share BSE Sensex, the top gainers included Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Trent, Bharat Electronics and State Bank of India. Meanwhile, the laggards included NTPC, ITC, PowerGrid, Axis Bank and Maruti.
In the broader markets, the Nifty India FPI 150 declined 0.70 per cent as volatility remained high. Sectorally, the Nifty Financial Services Ex-Bank rose 0.75 per cent and the Nifty IT index tumbled 5.51 per cent.
Previously, during the morning session, the BSE Sensex was at 83,968.43, down 265.21 points or 0.31 per cent, while the NSE Nifty50 stood at 25,906.70, lower by 47.15 points or 0.18 per cent at 9:15 AM.
‘Anthropic Shock’ Weighs On IT Stocks
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, said, “Tech stocks, reeling under the ‘Anthropic shock’, are unlikely to recover soon. The sharp dip in the ADRs of top Indian IT companies in the US on Wednesday, indicates that Indian IT will continue to struggle. The switch from IT to other segments will help performing stocks in performing sectors”.
Global Cues Mixed; US Jobs Data In Focus
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi advanced more than 2 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s Shanghai SSE Composite also traded in positive territory, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng remained in the red.
US equities ended lower in overnight trade on Wednesday.
The latest US employment data showed the addition of 1,30,000 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate easing to 4.3 per cent. This, analysts said, suggests that the Federal Reserve may not cut rates in the near term.
“In India, too, it appears that the rate cutting cycle is over since growth is good and inflation is expected to inch back to the RBI’s long-term target by the end of FY27,” Vijayakumar added.
Institutional Flows And Crude Prices
According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 943.81 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors were net sellers to the tune of Rs 125.36 crore.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.46 per cent to USD 69.72 per barrel.
