Friday fever! Sensex tumbles over 550 points, Nifty below 24,400; All sectors are under pressure

Domestic benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty 50 opened lower on Friday, dragged down by financials, auto, metal and IT stocks, as higher rural and urban inflation in November dampened expectations of its next interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Policy review.

The BSE Sensex was trading down 585 points or 0.72% at 80,890. The Nifty 50 was trading down 113 points or 0.46% at 24,435 at 9:23 am.

India’s retail inflation eased to 5.48% in November after breaching the RBI’s 6% tolerance band in October, as the arrival of fresh produce lifted vegetable prices modestly.

Food inflation, which accounts for half of the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket, eased to 9.04% in November from 10.87% in the previous month. However, rural inflation accelerated to 9.10% from 6.68% in October, while urban inflation rose to 8.74% from 5.62% in the previous month.

Among the Sensex stocks, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, L&T, Bajaj Finance, and Bajaj Finserv were the top performers, falling up to 2.5%. On the other hand, only Tata Motors, HUL and Nestle India opened in the green.

On the sectoral front, the Nifty metal index fell 1.7% in early trade after Union Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy announced on December 12 that the Center is considering imposing a safeguard duty on steel imports to stem the flow of cheap imports from China.

Meanwhile, Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, IT, Pharma, PSU Bank, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas also declined by 1%.

In individual shares, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) signed a deal with the company to purchase 12 Su-30MKI fighter aircraft at Rs. Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) rose over 2% after announcing the Rs 13,500-crore contract.

The company received on Thursday Rs. Shares of Zomato fell 3% following the 803 crore GST demand notice. The food delivery company said it would file an appeal against the order.

See the experts

“There is a lot of volatility and tailwind in the market in the near term. There is renewed selling by FIIs who sold shares for Rs 3,560 crore yesterday. Given the high valuations in India, FIIs are likely to sell more on every market upswing. Selling has been profitable for FIIs because “The tailwind that could support the market after the US election is declining inflation,” Dr. V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

“A rising dollar is a concern as it could lead to imported inflation. Nifty is unlikely to break out of the 24,500 – 24,850 range. Buying will emerge at the lower end of the band and selling will resume at the higher end of the band,” added Vijayakumar.

“After a negative opening, Nifty may find support at 24,400 and 24,300 and 24,200. On the upside, 24,700 may be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,850 and 24,450,” said Hardik Matalia, derivatives analyst at Choice Broking.

Global markets

Asian shares fell on Friday as a stronger dollar kept risk sentiment tenuous, while longer-dated Treasury yields headed for their biggest weekly gains this year as expectations for a US rate cut in 2025 eased.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5% in morning trade on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1% but is still on track for a weekly gain of 0.9%.

On Wall Street, stocks closed lower overnight as some investors took profits from the Nasdaq’s continued run to record highs. That said, Nasdaq futures in Asia rose 0.4%.

FII/DII Tracker

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) on December 12 invested Rs. 3,560 crore as they sold equity, extending their sell-off, while domestic institutional investors on the same day sold Rs. 2,646.65 crore equity was purchased.

More to come…