Indian benchmark indices ended a dismal week with another heavy slide on Friday, as the 4% decline in the Dow Jones the previous day sent Asian markets tumbling.
The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed the day 407.40 points down at 34,005.76, while the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty 50 ended at 10,454.95 points, 121.90 points lower than Thursday’s close. Both indices lost 1.2% during the day.
Domestic share markets had made gains on Thursday for the first time in eight sessions, but wiped out all gains when trade opened on Friday. The BSE Sensex dived 563.51 points in early trading and the Nifty 50 opened lower by 178.65 points.
Global market losses have impacted Indian indices and Asian markets over the past week. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,032.89 points – a loss of more than 4% in a day.
Investors are said to be concerned about rising inflation, which is forcing central banks to raise interest rates. This makes borrowing money more expensive for companies and consumers, hampering economic activity.
Only six of the 31 stocks on the Sensex rose on Friday: Tata Steel, Dr Reddy’s, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services and Coal India. The stocks that declined the most on the index were Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Infosys and Axis Bank.
On the Nifty 50, only 12 of the 50 stocks rose, the top five being HCL, Cipla, Tata Steel, Lupin and Asian Paints. The top losers were Yes Bank, Aurobindo Pharma, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India and Infosys.
The rupee also fell on Friday, and was at 64.37 a dollar at 3.30 pm, against 64.26 at previous close. Earlier in the day, the Indian currency had declined to a fresh two-month low of 64.43.
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