D-Street: Early trading sees Sensex and Nifty drop

NEW DELHI: On Monday morning, trading saw a fall in the Sensex and Nifty, two main equity indexes. Nifty was at 21,977.45, while the Sensex had dropped by 103.34, or 0.14%, to 72,540.09.
Top Sensex gainers include Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, M&M, NTPC, and Bajaj Finance, while top losers include SBI, Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Unilever, and ICICI Bank.
Friday saw Sensex and Nifty fall more than half a percent, as oil and gas, auto, and energy companies saw large losses as a result of ongoing outflows of foreign money.

Traders said that worries about small- and mid-cap companies had an additional negative effect on investor mood and the market as a whole. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended the day at 72,643.43, down 0.62 percent, or 453.85 points, from its opening levels. The benchmark dropped to 72,484.82 at one point throughout the day, a loss of 612.46 points, or 0.83 percent. Moreover, the NSE Nifty fell by 123.30 points, or 0.56 percent, to settle at 22,023.35.
The benchmarks of the BSE and NSE saw notable drops throughout the course of the week. The NSE Nifty experienced a fall of 470.2 points, or 2.09%, and the BSE benchmark saw a decrease of 1,475.96 points, or 1.99%. In addition, the BSE midcap gauge fell by 1,602.41 points, or 4%, and the smallcap index fell by 2,640.82 points, or 5.91 percent.
The Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, Vinod Nair, said, “The market as a whole was impacted by the cautious attitude towards mid- and small-cap stocks.” However, as the market stabilises, there is a chance for a recovery driven by strong domestic demand, given the lowering of global commodity prices and the higher estimate of India’s GDP for FY25.
Following M&M, which fell 4.75 percent, Tata Motors, NTPC, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and State Bank of India were the other top losers on the Sensex. Another index heavyweight that had a drop of over 1% was Reliance Industries. On the plus side, the winners were Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consultancy Services, Maruti, and IndusInd Bank.
The BSE midcap gauge suffered a little decline of 0.51 percent in the overall market environment on Friday, while the smallcap index saw a marginal rise of 0.25 percent.
“Domestic equities mirrored global trends as weak US and Asian markets led to profit-taking, resulting in the selling of auto, oil & gas, banking, and power stocks,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd. The recent weak economic data, such as the IIP and inflation figures, contributed to the pessimistic outlook.
The sectoral indexes recorded declines of 2.24 percent for oil and gas, 1.95 percent for energy, 1.74 percent for auto, 1.25 percent for capital goods, 0.57 percent for consumer discretionary, 0.55 percent for IT, 0.50 percent for bankex, and 0.32 percent for financial services. On the other hand, services, communications, and commodities all saw increases.
The government adopted an electric car strategy that offers tariff exemptions to businesses spending at least USD 500 million in Indian manufacturing facilities, with the goal of luring large global players like US-based Tesla. Businesses that establish facilities for producing electric vehicles will be able to import a certain quantity of automobiles at a discounted customs rate.

In terms of the state of the world market, Shanghai finished the day higher, while Asian markets including Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong closed down. While US markets finished badly, European markets saw slight gains. On Thursday, FIIs (foreign institutional investors) sold stocks valued at Rs 1,356.29 crore.
The price of Brent crude, the standard for the world’s oil, fell to USD 84.84 per barrel in February, while India’s exports reached a record-breaking USD 41.4 billion, up 11.9% from the previous year. Nonetheless, with imports valued at USD 60.1 billion, a 12.16 percent rise from February 2023, the trade imbalance was recorded at USD 18.7 billion.

After almost two years of constant pricing, state-owned oil firms on Thursday lowered the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre. The NSE Nifty increased by 148.95 points, or 0.68 percent, to end at 22,146.65, while the BSE benchmark closed at 73,097.28, up 335.39 points, or 0.46 percent.