A bear in the driving seat! Sensex falls over 400 points, Nifty slips below 25,100

Blue-chip indices Sensex and Nifty 50 opened lower for the fifth consecutive session on Friday, weighed down by weak global cues, with Reliance Industries, banking and financials leading the decline.

The BSE Sensex was down 410 points, or 0.5%, at 82,086, while the Nifty50 was down over 14o points, or 0.56%, at 25,094 by 9:32 pm.

Among the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, L&T and Asian Paints were the top contributors to drag down the index, while TCS, HCL Tech, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors and Tech Mahindra opened higher.

Investors may be wary amid escalating Middle East conflicts and concerns about continued foreign outflows from domestic equities.

Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel earlier in the week, amid fears that crude supplies from the world’s top oil-producing region could be threatened if the conflict escalates. Oil prices rose while global stocks fell.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Realty fell 3.5% in early trade, weighed down by Phoenix Mills, Lodha, Prestige and DLF. Nifty Auto, Media, Metal, PSU Bank, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas sectors also opened 1-2% lower.

Among individual stocks, DMart shares fell 4.4% in early trade after brokerages provided a mixed outlook on the supermarket chain’s Q2FY25 business update.

See experts

“Yesterday’s sharp correction of 2.1% in Nifty was more due to massive FII selling rather than fear of escalation in Middle East tensions. The last three days saw huge FII selling of Rs 30614 crore in the cash market. FIIs are moving money. From expensive India to cheap Hong Kong. on expectations that the monetary and fiscal stimulus implemented by the Chinese authorities will boost the Chinese economy and improve the earnings of Chinese companies,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“The direction of the market in the near term will be influenced by the ongoing tug-of-war between FIIs and DIIs. The current reality is that DIIs have deeper pockets than FIIs and are more confident to buy the India growth story,” added Vijayakumar.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities said, “The short term trend has turned bearish in Nifty. The next support for the index is seen near 25070, where the 50-day EMA is placed. The resistance for the index has shifted to 25400. – 25500 band.”

Global markets

Asian shares retreated on Friday as oil prices headed for their biggest weekly gain in a year, as rising tensions in the Middle East kept markets on edge ahead of a US jobs report later in the day.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.32% and ended the week little changed. Japan’s Nikkei also pared early gains to close 0.08% lower in previous trade. It was headed for a weekly loss of over 3%.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures eased 0.03% each, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures were flat.

FII/DII Tracker

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) on October 3 received Rs. 15,243 crore worth of equity was sold, while domestic institutional investors on the same day sold Rs. 12,914 crore equity was purchased.

Crude oil

Oil prices rose in early Asian trading hours on Friday, holding on to their strong weekly gains, as investors weighed potential disruptions to crude flows against conflicts in the Middle East and wider global market supplies.

Brent crude futures were up 9 cents, or 0.12%, at $77.71 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 8 cents, or 0.11%, at $73.79 a barrel. Both benchmarks were on track for weekly gains of around 8%.

Currency Watch

The Indian rupee was flat at 83.96 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback’s movement against a basket of six major world currencies, fell 0.03% to 101.9.

(with inputs from agencies)