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Indian investors were left a worried lot over reports of a likely faster and longer period of interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve. Indian equity markets posted their biggest one-day drop in over two weeks on Thursday, snapping a three-session winning streak, dragged by index heavyweight Reliance, ICICI Bank and IT stocks.
While Sensex declined 542 points or 0.90% to settle at 59,806, Nifty dropped 165 points or 0.93% to end at 17,590. The market cap of all listed companies on the BSE declined by Rs 1.97 lakh crore to Rs 264.27 lakh crore.
From the Sensex pack, M&M, Reliance and Bajaj Finserv were the top laggards, falling about 2-3.5%. ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Tata Motors, and Maruti also ended in the red.
On the other hand, Tata steel closed 1.55% higher amid signs of recovery in China. Meanwhile, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and NTPC also ended higher.
Sector-wise, Nifty Auto fell 1.83%, and Nifty IT declined 1.08%. Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services also closed lower. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap50 dropped 0.62% and Smallcap50 plunged 0.47%.
Now what do experts feel about today?
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, “The domestic market could hardly hold on to its previous gains as the Fed Chair’s reaffirmation of his hawkish statement brought in more worries….He added: Upcoming US job data will have a substantial impact on the Fed’s policy decisions in its upcoming FOMC meeting. A stronger-than-expected jobs report will prompt the Fed to raise interest rates by 50 bps.”
Global Markets
Asian shares wobbled – Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.63%, China’s Shanghai Composite declined 0.22% but if we talk about Japan’s Nikkei, it rose 0.63%.
London’s FTSE 100 also fell due to US interest rate hike news along with this, metal prices dropped in the wake of a stronger dollar. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.6%, and the mid-cap index lost 0.7%, extending losses for a third straight session.
Crude price falls
Talking about crude prices – Brent crude fell by 0.10% to $82.32 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped by 0.14% to $76.56. Both benchmarks declined between 4% and 5% over the previous two days.
Rupee Strengthens
The rupee strengthened against the US currency on Thursday, with traders citing inflows, but the RBI’s likely intervention capped further gains and brought the local unit closer to 82 per dollar. The rupee finished at 81.97 per dollar, against its previous close of 82.055
That’s it for today! Stay tuned with ETMarkets.com for latest updates, stock market recommendations, news and more. Enjoy your evening.
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