Mumbai, Feb 4 (PTI) Equity benchmarks stayed on the backfoot for the second straight session on Friday as policy tightening by central banks and persistent foreign fund outflows weighed on sentiment.
However, a strengthening rupee capped the downside for the bourses, traders said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 143.20 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 58,644.82. Similarly, the NSE Nifty shed 43.90 points or 0.25 per cent to close at 17,516.30.
SBI was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding 1.83 per cent, followed by M&M, NTPC, Kotak Bank, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC and PowerGrid.
On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, L&T, HDFC Bank and HCL Tech were among the gainers, spurting up to 1.21 per cent.
Of the Sensex constituents, 19 shares closed lower while 11 were in the green.
The Bank of England on Thursday raised interest rates, while the European Central Bank (ECB) also signalled policy tightening to tame runaway inflation.
Global central banks are winding down their massive stimulus programmes launched at the onset of the pandemic as the policy focus shifts to inflation management. However, hardening interest rates are also triggering foreign capital outflows from emerging markets, including India.
“The domestic market continued to ride yesterday’s downtrend with most sectors barring FMCG and Metal facing sell-off. Western markets also lacked strength as the Bank of England imposed a back-to-back rate hike in yesterday’s policy meeting while the dovish ECB acknowledged the risk of rising inflation signalling a rate hike in the future.
“Wall Street remained highly volatile as a huge sell-off was seen in Meta (Facebook) post its earnings,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex gained 1,444.59 points or 2.52 per cent, while the Nifty rose 414.35 points or 2.42 per cent.
“The equity market continued to be in the grip of extreme volatility, which has been a continuous feature of the markets during the whole week,” said Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management.
“The concerns over rising interest rates in the US…the build- up of political and military tensions in Eastern Europe, and the adverse effects of the new variant of the pandemic, are all factors that worked on the minds of the investors. These factors, by their very nature, are likely to influence the markets in the coming weeks too,” he added.
Sector-wise, BSE realty, auto, energy, finance and bankex lost as much as 2.83 per cent on Friday, while metal, basic materials, utilities and FMCG posted gains.
In the broader markets, the BSE midcap and smallcap indices dropped up to 0.68 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul closed on a firm footing. Chinese markets were shut for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a mixed note in mid-session deals.
International oil benchmark Brent crude surged 1.22 per cent to USD 92.22 per barrel.
The rupee surged 19 paise to close at 74.69 against the US dollar on Friday, tracking the weakness of the American currency in the overseas market.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, offloading shares worth Rs 1,597.54 crore on Thursday, according to stock exchange data. PTI BAL ABM ABM ABM ABM
