Sensex, Nifty fall for 2nd day on recession fears; selling seen across all sectors

Indian equity indices closed in the red for the second day in a row on Friday as global recession worries stoked by weak US consumer data weighed on investor sentiments. Selling was seen across all sectors except PSU banks and oil & gas stocks.

The BSE Sensex index ended 237 points or 0.39% lower at 60,662, while Nifty50 fell 80 points or 0.44% to settle at 18,027.

From the Sensex pack, HUL, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and Nestle were the worst performers, falling about 2-4%. Bajaj Finserv, Reliance, L&T, Maruti, Sun Pharma, Infosys, and Bharti Airtel also ended with cuts.

On the other hand, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ITC, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank ended with gains.

Sectorally, the Nifty Consumer Durables fell 1.03% and Nifty FMCG declined 0.96%. Auto, media, metal, pharma, realty and IT stocks also closed lower. Whereas, in the broader market, Smallcap50 dropped 0.63% and Nifty Midcap50 declined 0.78%.

The market capitalisation of all listed companies on the BSE declined by Rs 1.57 lakh crore to Rs 280.26 lakh crore.

Experts view
“Shaking off the weak lead from Wall Street, domestic indices attempted to trade higher due to economic optimism that stemmed from China’s reopening. However, concerns over the global economic slowdown eventually caught up and dragged markets lower. All sectors bled, barring banking stocks, ahead of the release of key earnings by private banking majors,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The Nifty is witnessing a brief consolidation before it embarks on a larger up move. “Immediate support is at 18,000 where fresh buying interest can be seen. The short-term bullish stance holds true as long as the Nifty trades above the swing low of 17,760. On the higher side, the Nifty is expected to surpass the key hurdle zone of 18,260-18,300 & head towards 18,500,” said Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Global Markets
Asian equity markets rose on Friday amid optimism about China's reopening following the lifting of stringent Covid curbs. Japan's Nikkei added 0.56%, helped by a retreat in the yen. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.63%, reversing an earlier loss, and Australia's benchmark edged 0.23% higher.

Meanwhile, FTSE100 rose 0.4%, but was set to end the week in red. The FTSE 250 also added 0.4%.

Crude Impact
Oil rose on Friday and was heading for a second straight weekly gain, spurred largely by brightening economic prospects for China and resulting expectations of a boost to fuel demand in the world's second-biggest economy.

Brent crude gained 0.34%, to $86.45 a barrel, while US crude advanced 0.37%, to $80.93 a barrel.

(With inputs from agencies)