Investor morale is continuously falling due to the ongoing conflict in West Asia and rising oil prices. Due to this, a decline of about 1 percent was recorded in the stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty in early trading on Friday. Heavy selling in global markets, continuous withdrawal of foreign funds and weakness of rupee also further strengthened the bearish trend. During trading, the Sensex fell by 934 points to 75,100.34 points. Nifty fell 322 points to 23,316.85. In early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 708.38 points or 0.93 percent to 75,326.04. At the same time, the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 222.05 points or 0.93 percent to 23,417.10.
Condition of Sensex companies
Among the 30 Sensex stocks, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, InterGlobe Aviation, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank and Tech Mahindra were among the biggest laggards. Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Bajaj Finserv were among the gainers.
Decline seen in Asian markets
In Asian markets, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index were trading lower. A huge fall was recorded in the American market on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.78 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.56 percent and the S&P 500 fell 1.52 percent.
What do experts say?
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said that global markets are in a weak and uncertain situation due to the ongoing uncertainty over the West Asian conflict. Weakness in the US markets indicates that it will take some time for the market to improve. There is a bullish trend as the price of Brent crude is around 100 US dollars. He said with FIIs continuing their relentless selling strategy, even large-cap blue-chips are under pressure.
The price of Brent crude increased to US $ 100.05 per barrel.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.07 per cent higher at US$100.5 per barrel. According to market exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 7,049.87 crore on Thursday. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 7,449.77 crore. On Thursday, the Sensex closed 829.29 points or 1.08 per cent lower at 76,034.42. Similarly, Nifty fell 227.70 points or 0.95 percent and closed at 23,639.15.