Sensex falls 1,190 points on heightened geopolitical uncertainty on F&O expiry day

Indian markets tumbled 1.5% on Thursday due to selling pressure on concerns over slower-than-expected rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve, heightened geopolitical uncertainty on monthly F&O expiry day.

The S&P BSE Sensex plunged 1,190.34 points, or 1.48%, to 79,043.74 points led by losses in IT and auto stocks.

Sensex stocks which lost the most included Infosys (3.46%), M&M (3.35%), Bajaj Finance (2.84%), Adani Ports (2.73%), HCL Tech (2.54%) and Tech Mahindra (2.28%).

The BSE Auto Index declined 1.39%, while the BSE IT index was down 1.48%. The NSE Nifty-50 index too fell 361 points, or 1.49%, to 23,914.15 points.

“News of escalating war between Russia-Ukraine made traders nervous in carrying their long positions. Markets are likely to remain lacklustre in the near term on lack of global cues due to the stock market holiday in the American market on Thursday,” said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

“South Korea’s central bank unexpectedly cut its policy rate for a second straight time and lowered its growth forecasts for the country as it looks to step up support for the sagging economy. Asian stocks were lower, dragged by tech and consumer product stocks,” he said.

From the day’s high, the Nifty nosedived more than 470 points on the November F&O expiry day. The NSE cash market volumes were higher by 2% as compared with Wednesday.

Nifty Midcap 100 and Small Cap 100 Indices bucked the trend wherein they gained 0.05% each. Advancing shares outnumbered the declining shares where advance decline ratio stood at 1.31 on BSE. The BSE Midcap was down 0.06% while the BSE Smallcap was up 0.41%.

Among the sectoral Indices at NSE, Nifty PSU Banks, Media and Reality ended in the green, while Nifty IT, Auto and consumer durables fell the most.

Vikram Kasat, Head, Advisory, PL Capital, Prabhudas Lilladher said, “IT and banking stocks bore the brunt as concerns over slower-than-expected rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve rippled through investor sentiment.”

“U.S. inflation data, indicating robust consumer spending and persistent price pressures, has cast doubts on aggressive monetary easing. This not only rattled IT heavyweights like Infosys and HCL Tech, but also dampened broader market optimism,” he said.

He said despite the geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe a silver lining has emerged with Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) making a substantial comeback, injecting ₹11,100 crore into Indian equities over three sessions.

“This could signal renewed confidence in India’s growth story amidst global headwinds, providing hope for market stability in the near term,” he said.

Adani stocks

Other than Adani Ports, the group’s cement companies and Adani Wilmar, other Adani Group stocks strangely gained on Thursday on the BSE. Adani Enterprises Ltd. rose 1.63%, Adani Power rose 6.95%, Adani Energy Solutions was up 10%, Adani Green Energy up 10%, Adani Total Gas was up 15.7%, while ACC fell 0.79%, Ambuja Cement fell 0.23%, NDTV was down 2.3% and Adani Wilmar declined 0.44%..

Published - November 28, 2024 09:25 pm IST