Ill winds continued to blow through the bourses on Friday, with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex ending below the 19,000-mark the NSE Nifty below the 5,700 mark for the first time in four months.
Market sentiments remained weak on account of rising inflation and expectation of a hike in interest rates by RBI later this month.
The Sensex closed the day 1.7% below its previous close to 18,860 and the broader Nifty by by the same proportion to close the day at 5,654.
The markets were volatile during the day’s trading, with the Sensex touching an intraday high of 19,447 and sinking to a low of 18,811 during the day.
The Sensex has lost 1,700 points or 8.3% over the last nine trading sessions and has had a weak beginning in the new year.
Weak IIP numbers that were announced earlier in the week and the continuing rise in overall inflation impacted the market sentiments.
“Clearly, the Indian economy is confronting a few headwinds and one needs to be careful in the near term till there is more clarity,” said Amar Ambani, head of research at India Infoline.
{{/usCountry}}“Clearly, the Indian economy is confronting a few headwinds and one needs to be careful in the near term till there is more clarity,” said Amar Ambani, head of research at India Infoline.
{{/usCountry}}The biggest losers of the day were the BSE real estate and banking indices, falling 2.8% and 2.6% respectively. Among Sensex companies Tata Motors and HDFC Bank fell the most and lost 4.6% and 4.2% respectively.