Stock market today: Stock market indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower on Friday, affected by declining auto stocks and continuous foreign fund withdrawals. US market weakness and tariff-related concerns impacted investor confidence.
The BSE Sensex fell 424.90 points or 0.56 per cent, closing at 75,311.06. During trading, it decreased by 623.55 points or 0.82 per cent to 75,112.41.
The NSE Nifty reduced by 117.25 points or 0.51 per cent to 22,795.90.
Over four trading sessions, the BSE indicator dropped 685.8 points or 0.90 per cent, whilst Nifty decreased by 163.6 points or 0.71 per cent.
Among Sensex companies, Mahindra & Mahindra declined by over 6 per cent. Other declining stocks included Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, Zomato, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and UltraTech Cement.
Companies showing gains included Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank and NTPC.
“A combination of negative factors such as relentless FII selling, falling rupee, expensive valuations and the US threat of reciprocating tariff levies continue to drive investors away from Indian equities.
“In fact, local benchmarks under-performed both Asian and European indices, which logged significant gains. Barring metals, the slump in domestic markets was led by weakness in banking, IT, telecom, auto, realty and oil & gas shares,” stated Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 3,311.55 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.
The domestic market showed widespread weakness, influenced by concerns over the FOMC minutes indicating extended higher interest rates, potentially limiting emerging market liquidity, according to Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Asian markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended positively. European markets traded predominantly higher. US markets closed lower on Thursday.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, decreased 0.59 per cent to USD 76.05 per barrel.
On Thursday, the Sensex declined by 203.22 points or 0.27 per cent to 75,735.96, while Nifty decreased by 19.75 points or 0.09 per cent to 22,913.15.
