Stock market closing: Sensex ends 365 points lower, Nifty tumbles
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 365.53 points to 65,322.65, while the NSE Nifty 50 tumbled 114.80 points to 19,428.30.
In Short
- Benchmark indices drop as RBI predicts elevated inflation
- Sensex and Nifty fall on cautious investor sentiment
- Market decline extends third week, led by pharma and finance
Benchmark stock market indices fell sharply on Friday after investors turned cautious after the Reserve Bank of India predicted inflation to remain high in July and August.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 365.53 points to 65,322.65, while the NSE Nifty 50 tumbled 114.80 points to 19,428.30. Broader market indices also saw a broad-based decline as the mood soured across Dalal Street.
It may be noted that domestic markets extended losses for the third week in a row, primarily pulled down by weakness in pharma, FMCG, banking and financial stocks.
Most of the major sectoral indices fell sharply, with Nifty Media falling 1.83 points, followed by Nifty Pharma’s 1.45 per cent drop. Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty FMCG also fell sharply.
The top five gainers on the Nifty 50 were HCL Tech, Power Grid, Titan, Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, SBI Life, UPL, Tata Consumer Products and Asian Paints were the top losers.
While FMCG stocks fell on RBI’s elevated inflation forecast, banks and financial services shares suffered after the banking regulator asked banks to set aside a larger part of incremental deposits under the cast reserve ratio (CRR).
Analysts expect domestic markets to face some amount of near-term consolidation due to the RBI’s inflation projection and CRR move, adding that more stock-specific action could be seen.
