Market Closing: Sensex Tumbles 366 pts; Nifty Slips Below 19,250; Vodafone Idea Jumps 9% – News18

Sensex Today: The equity markets succumbed to all-round selling pressure on Friday after minutes of the RBI August meeting revealed that RBI Governor Das expects headline CPI inflation to harden significantly in July-August. Further, investors preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the US Federal chief Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium later tonight.

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped to a low of 64,733, and ended the day with a loss of 366 points at 64,887. In the process, BSE benchmark has now extended its weekly losing run to 5-weeks, down 2.7 per cent or 1,797 points during the period.

The NSE Nifty 50 hit a low of 19,230, and settled 121 points lower at 19,266. The Nifty has shed 2.4 per cent or 479 points in the last five weeks.

Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank and JSW Steel down around 2 per cent each were the major losers in the Sensex 30 on Friday. HDFC Bank with a loss of a per cent was a major drag, accounting for over 100 points loss on the Sensex alone.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The market is delicately poised waiting for triggers. The transient role of sentiments was evident yesterday when the market couldn’t sustain the enthusiasm triggered by the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission and its positive impact on stocks related to the mission.”

The message from the Fed chief Jerome Powell tonight will be keenly watched for any clues on the future trajectory of interest rates in the US. The Fed chief is unlikely to indicate that the rate hiking cycle is coming to an end, he said.

“An unhealthy trend in the market is the sustained rise in the prices of many small-and micro-cap stocks. This is partly aided by the sustained flow of funds into the small-cap segment. Valuations in the segment are approaching risky levels. Safety is now in large-caps,” he added.