Sensex, Nifty extend losses into 2nd day on rate hike fears

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty buckled under selling pressure for the second straight session on Friday as a bearish trend in global equities and concerns over rate hikes by central banks unnerved investors.

Besides, selling pressure in index majors Reliance Industries, Infosys and L&T also dragged the benchmark indices lower, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 259.52 points or 0.41% to settle at 62,979.37. During the day, it tumbled 364.77 points or 0.57% to 62,874.12.

The NSE Nifty declined 105.75 points or 0.56% to end at 18,665.50.

“Global central banks are currently focused on addressing inflation and have reiterated their commitment to reaching their target levels, as evidenced by the hawkish commentary from (U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome) Powell and the unexpected rate hike by the Bank of England,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Tata Motors was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, skidding 1.77%, followed by SBI, Power Grid, Tata Steel, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries and Maruti.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, NTPC, HCL Technologies, HDFC and Sun Pharma were the gainers.

“The downward revision of earnings guidance by a major U.S. tech company Accenture has raised concerns about potential earnings downgrades in the Indian IT sector, resulting in pressure on IT stocks.

“However, the domestic market is not expected to experience a significant correction due to favourable domestic economic indicators and correction in international commodities prices to sustain earnings growth on a QoQ basis,” Mr. Nair added.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

Equity benchmark indices in Europe were also trading in the red. The U.S. markets ended on a mixed note in the overnight trade on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.11% to $73.32 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹693.28 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark fell by 284.26 points or 0.45% to settle at 63,238.89 on Thursday. The Nifty went lower by 85.60 points or 0.45% to end at 18,771.25.