The Indian equities benchmark opened with a gap-down as indicated by the SGX index. At 9:17 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 580 points or 1.05 per cent lower at 54,739, whereas the NSE Nifty 50 index declined 189 points or 1.15 per cent at 16,288.
Of the broader indices, Nifty Midcap 50 index was trading 1.07 per cent lower at 7,557, whereas the Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 1.02 per cent down at 27,522. All the sectoral indices were trading in red, with the stocks of banking, financial services, IT, metal and real estate declining the most.
Amongst the NSE listed companies, Bajaj Auto, Tata Consumer Products Limited PowerGrid, NTPC and Titan were the top gainers, whereas Wipro, Hindalco, Tata Steel Limited, Infosys, and Tech Mahindra were the top losers. Amongst the BSE-listed companies, PowerGrid, Maruti, Titan and NTPC were the top gainers, whereas Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Kotak Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC twins, Bajaj twins, Sun Pharma and TCS were the top losers.
The major indices in Asia were trading lower following the overnight decline of US stocks. The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.2 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading 1.48 per cent lower, whereas South Korea’s KOSPI declined 1.17 per cent. The Hang Seng index slipped 1.03 per cent. While Shanghai Composite was up 0.07 per cent, Shenzhen Component was trading 0.10 per cent lower.
Notably, the major indices in the US were trading lower on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 97.75 points or 2.4 per cent to 4,017, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading 638 points or 1.9 per cent lower to 32,272. The Nasdaq Composite declined 332 points or 2.7 per cent to 11,754.
Back home, the foreign institutional investors (FII) continued to remain the net sellers worth Rs 1,512 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors remained the net buyers worth Rs 1,624 crore on Thursday. The Indian Rupee declined by 6 paise to close at 77.74 against US Dollar on Thursday.
The crude oil prices fell on Friday. The Brent crude futures for August declined $1.01 or 0.8 per cent to $122 per barrel at 0141 GMT.
Bajaj Auto, Dr. Reddy's Labs, Escorts, Power Finance Corporation, HFCL, HDFC, Shriram Transport, and Indian Overseas Bank are the stocks that will remain in focus today.
