Closing bell: Sensex slumps over 500 points to 65,280; Nifty drops to 19,331

Benchmark stock indices Sensex declined by 505 points at close while Nifty settled lower at the 19,330 level due to profit-taking in financial, IT and oil shares after a record-breaking run and weak global trends.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell sharply by 505.19 points or 0.77 per cent to close at 65,280.45 points as 25 of its constituents ended in red and five in green. The barometer moved between 65,175.74 and 65,898.98 during the day.

Ending its eight-day winning streak, the broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange declined by 165.50 or 0.85 per cent to settle at 19,331.80. As many as 44 Nifty shares declined while six gained.

Among major Sensex shares, PowerGrid fell the most by 2.76 per cent. IndusInd Bank dropped 2.34 per cent, HUL by 2.23 per cent and NTPC by 2.04 per cent.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ITC, Infosys, L&T, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra were among the losers.

On the other hand, Tata Motors rose the most by 2.94 per cent, followed by Titan which gained 1.26 per cent. Mahindra & Mahindra, SBI and TCS were also among gainers.

“The domestic market succumbed to profit-booking as heat waves from weak global markets hit the shore. Global equities declined due to a spike in US bond yields, fuelled by expectations of a prolonged high-interest rate environment following a sharp increase in US private payroll data,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap declined by 0.76 per cent to 28,999.02 while BSE Small dropped 0.28 per cent to 33,129.41.

All the BSE sectoral indices except for auto and consumer durables ended in the red with losses of up to 1.63 per cent.

S&P BSE Utilities dropped 1.63 per cent, BSE Power by 1.61 per cent, BSE Realty by 1.16 per cent, FMCG by 1.45 per cent, Commodities 1.11 per cent, Financial Services by 0.85 per cent, and Industrrials and IT by 0.82 per cent each.

Bucking the trend, BSE Auto rose by 0.29 per cent and consumer durables by 0.22 per cent.

“Markets witnessed profit taking and shed nearly a per cent, tracking feeble global cues. The decline has engulfed Thursday’s bullish move and indicates the possibility of consolidation in Nifty ahead,” Ajit Mishra, SVP – Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.

In global markets, Hong Kong, China, Japan and Australia sank up to 1.7 per cent following overnight losses in US equities as reports suggested the US job market remains much more resilient than expected.

Investors feared that as a sturdy labour market keeps the economy out of a long-feared recession, it could also push the US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer in its campaign to defeat high inflation.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.25 per cent to USD 76.70 a barrel.

Defying a weak trend in the global markets, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 339.60 points or 0.52 per cent to settle at its new all-time closing high of 65,785.64 on Thursday. The NSE Nifty rallied 98.80 points or 0.51 per cent to end at a new record high of 19,497.30.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying activity as they bought equities worth ₹790.40 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.