Fiscal worries drag Sensex 453 pts, Bank index 463 pts; Nifty ends Nov series below 10,300
Equity benchmarks fell sharply on Thursday, with the Sensex shedding nearly 500 points intraday as investors looked cautious after widening fiscal deficit and ahead of second quarter GDP data due later today. Weakness in Asian stocks also weighed on sentiment.
All sectoral indices barring Realty ended in red, falling 1-2 percent while Realty gained over a percent. Banks extended sell-off on fiscal worries and that resulted further fall in equity benchmarks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 453.41 points or 1.35 percent at 33,149.35.
The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 134.80 points or 1.30 percent to 10,226.50 on the day of expiry of November futures & options contracts.
“Investors remain in a cautious note and today’s Q2 GDP data will be a key trigger to give direction to the market,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said.
Any recovery in the GDP numbers revamped by the better consumer spending in the September quarter may rekindle positivity, but investors would also prefer clarity from Gujarat elections before strengthening their bets, Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.
Jayant Manglik President Retail Sales at Religare Securities advised corrections should be used as a buying opportunity. Traders should avoid over leveraging until keys events like the RBI policy and US Fed meet in the next couple of weeks, he said.
The fall in broader markets was less than equity benchmarks as the Nifty Midcap lost 0.7 percent. Even the market breadth was not very bad as about four shares declined for every three shares rising on the NSE.
The fiscal deficit for April-October period widened to Rs 5.25 lakh crore (reaching 96 percent of FY18 target), against Rs 4.2 lakh crore in year-ago.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee also depreciated as widened fiscal deficit and expectation of extension in oil production cut from OPEC influenced investors to offload funds from the market. It closed up 14 paise at 64.46 against the US dollar.
On the global front, Asian stocks ended lower, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng falling 1.5 percent. European stocks were mixed at the time of writing this article. Brent crude futures gained 1.5 percent at USD 64 a barrel ahead of OPEC decision due later today.
Back home, Nifty Bank plunged 463 points, of which 163 points loss came in after fiscal deficit data. ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance and Yes Bank were down 1-2.7 percent.
Among realty stocks, DLF gained 2 percent ahead of board meeting tomorrow to consider fund raising through QIP placement. Sobha, Prestige Estates, HDIL, Indiabulls Real and Brigade Enterprises rose 1-5 percent.
Reliance Industries (down 2.6 percent), Tata Motors (2.4 percent) and Infosys (0.7 percent) were also under pressure. Bosch added 1.3 percent on top of 5 percent rally seen in previous session on value buying. GAIL was up 1.4 percent.
Indiabulls Housing Finance gained 0.3 percent as Crisil has upgraded long-term rating to AAA/stable, from AA+/positive.
Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri was down 10 percent and Mukta Arts gained 12 percent post Q2 earnings.
Vakrangee rallied 4 percent as MSCI added the stock to its Global Standard Index today. APL Apollo, Bombay Dyeing, Eris Life and Fortis Healthcare among 30 stocks added in MSCI Smallcap index, rising 1-4 percent. Adani Transmission, Future Retail, Indo Count, TVS Motor among 10 stocks removed from Smallcap index, declining 2-4 percent.
Edelweiss Financial was up 3 percent as the company and Tokio Marine Holdings Inc infused Rs 670 crore in Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance for expansion plans.
Den Networks gained 8 percent after positive management commentary. Norges Bank bought 23,88,209 shares of the company at Rs 92.75 per share through a block deal on Wednesday. The Spruce House Partnership LP, however, sold 29,48,000 shares at Rs 92.76 per share.
IL&FS Transportation rose 4 percent as Arbitral Tribunal directed the NHAI to pay Rs 548 crore to company’s arm.
Archies gained more than 2 percent as the company turned profitable for quarter ended September 2017, with net income at Rs 0.2 crore against loss of Rs 1.2 crore in year-ago.
