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Benchmark share indices ended near one-month lows, tracking a sell-off in global stocks, after investors booked profits amid lack of fresh triggers while sooner-than-expected hike in interest rates by the US Fed in wake of robust jobs data raised fears of foreign fund outflows in the short term.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 632 points at 28,817 and the 50-share Nifty closed 193 points lower at 8,745.
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(Updated at 2:40PM)
Benchmark share indices extended losses in late noon trades, amid weak European cues, to trade near one-month lows with financials and IT shares leading the decline after better-than-expected US jobs data raised expectations that the US Federal Reserve would hike interest rate sooner than expected.
At 2:40PM, the 30-share Sensex was trading 463 points down at 28,985 and the 50-share Nifty was down 144 points at 8,794.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 78 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Further, the Indian rupee was trading sharply lower to the US dollar after the greenback rallied against other currencies on expectations of that the US Fed would hike interest rates sooner-than-expected. The rupee was trading lower at Rs 62.59 compared to the previous close of Rs 62.16 on Thursday.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian markets were trading sharply lower tracking losses on Wall Street after robust US jobs data. Among the major indices, Nikkei ended down 1% while Straits Times, Hang Seng were down 0.2-0.5%. However, China's Shanghai Composite was up 1.9% after data showed that exports gained pace in the January and February 2015.
European shares were also trading weak after the sharp fall in US stocks while decline in exports from Germany during January also dampened sentiment. CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were down 0.6-0.9% each.
SECTORS & STOCKS
BSE Bankex was the top sectoral loser down 2.6% followed by Power, IT and Capital Goods among others. However, Healthcare index was the sole gainer up 0.5%.
Private lenders witnessed profit taking after sharp gains post the Budget proposal of fungibility of FDI and FPI which would allow private sector lenders to raise additional foreign capital. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were down 2.5-4% each.
IT shares also witnessed profit taking despite the weakening rupee after TCS flagged that growth in the March quarter would remain in-line with last year trend adding that cross currency headwinds would impact rupee revenue by 275 basis points and dollar revenue by 200 basis points. TCS was down 2%, Infosys slipped 2.7% and Wipro was down over 1%.
Other index heavyweights that witnessed profit taking include, Reliance Industries, ITC, L&T and mortgage lender HDFC.
Metal shares were also trading lower on fears that higher rates paid to acquire coal mines would hurt margins going forward.
Hindalco was down over 4%. The company won the bid for Dumri Coal Block at Rs 2,127/tonne. Sesa Sterlite was also down 4% while Tata Steel eased 1.4%.
However, Hindustan Unilever was up 2.6% on defensive buying.
Sun Pharmaceutical was marginally up by 0.5% after the company today said that the Hon’ble High Court of Punjab & Haryana has on March 09, 2015 orally pronounced an Order, approving the Scheme of Arrangement involving merger of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. with the company.
In the broader market the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were down 0.6-0.9% each.
Market breadth was weak with 1,804 losers and 949 gainers on the BSE.
