]
Business: Sensex and Nifty opened with a weak trend in the stock market on Friday due to weak trend of global markets and apprehensions before the results of Bihar elections. Traders said that the continuous withdrawal of foreign capital has also dampened the morale of investors. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 303.63 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 84,175.04 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 82.65 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 25,796.50.
Condition of Sensex companies
Among Sensex companies, Tata Motors Ltd Commercial Vehicles Business, Infosys, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards. There were gains in shares of Eternal, Bharat Electronics Limited, Axis Bank, Sun Pharmaceuticals, State Bank of India, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, Trent, NTPC and Bajaj Finance.
Market reaction to Bihar election results will be temporary
V.K., chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments Ltd. Vijaykumar said that today the market will keep an eye on the results of Bihar elections. But the market’s reaction to the election results will be temporary, whatever the outcome. The medium to long term trend of the market will be determined by fundamentals, especially earnings growth. There is room for optimism on this front, as indicated by strong GDP growth and prospects of improvement in income growth.
Nifty is performing best in big markets
Vijayakumar further said that India’s poor performance this year is unlikely to continue for long. It is important to understand that despite the massive underperformance of Nifty so far this year, Nifty remains the best performing index among the world’s major markets over the period of the last five years. He said the decline in corporate earnings in FY2025 and increased valuations have impacted the market this year. This market situation will change for the better in future.
Decline seen in Asian markets
Broader Asian stock markets fell. South Korea’s Kospi fell 2.2 percent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.7 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.4 percent and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index fell 0.16 percent. US markets closed largely lower on Thursday in overnight deals.
Uncertainty remains in Wall Street due to US shutdown
The Nasdaq fell 2.3 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 1.7 per cent and the Dow fell 1.7 per cent, said Devarsh Vakil, head of prime research at HDFC Securities. This is their biggest decline in more than a month. Wall Street’s weakness reflected uncertainty over whether key US economic indicators will be released following the longest shutdown in US history.
He said Federal Reserve policymakers have signaled hesitation in recent days about further interest rate cuts, making the financial market-based likelihood of a decline in borrowing costs in December almost equal.
Less possibility of interest rate cut in America next month
Asian stock markets also joined the global selloff on Friday as hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials dashed hopes of a US interest rate cut next month, the lawyer said.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors remained net sellers for the fourth consecutive day and sold equities worth Rs 383.68 crore on Thursday. According to exchange data, domestic institutional investors continued their buying and bought shares worth Rs 3,091.87 crore. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 84,478.67 with a gain of 12.16 points. At the same time, NSE Nifty also closed at 25,879.15 with a gain of only 3.35 points.
