Sensex declined more than 600 points to 81,648, while Nifty 50 fell over 200 points to 25,290, as seen at 12.35 pm.
Bharti Airtel, IndiGo, Ultratech Cement and Maruti Suzuki shares were among the top losers on Sensex in the afternoon trading hours, while IT stocks like Infosys and HCL Tech led gains. Notably, the IT stocks too have erased a portion of their morning gains, with TCS slipping into the red.
Here are some of the key factors pushing markets down today:
1) FII selling
The fall in stock markets comes as heavy selling by foreign investors may have dampened sentiment. Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold Indian equities worth nearly Rs 3,466 crore earlier yesterday, according to data on NSE.
Domestic institutional investors, however, remained net buyers of Indian equities, purchasing shares worth Rs 5,032 crore on Thursday.
2) Weak global markets
Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index ended lower on Thursday as the tech rally failed to hold on to the momentum. The world’s most valuable company, Nvidia, saw its share price decline by 5%, a day after rising sharply following its better-than-expected January quarter results and high revenue forecast for the ongoing quarter.
Google-parent Alphabet shares declined nearly 2%, while Amazon shares were down more than 1%. AMD shares dropped more than 3%, while Salesforce shares rose more than 4% on strong earnings. Nasdaq Composite index closed more than 1% lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up 0.16%, while South Korea’s Kospi declined around 1%. Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite, meanwhile, are in the green.
3) US-Iran tensions
US and Iran held indirect negotiations on Thursday over the latter’s nuclear program. However, the two countries have not concluded a deal, leaving room for worries after heightened tensions and expectations of a possible military conflict as US President Donald Trump-led administration has gathered a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the region.
Earlier, Trump had warned Iran that it must make a deal over its nuclear program in 10-15 days, or “really bad things” will happen.
4) Rupee declines
Rupee slightly dipped against the US dollar as elevated dollar demand pressured prices. The Indian rupee opened at $90.9475 against the US dollar, slightly lower than the previous closing level of $90.9050. In the afternoon, it was hovering around $90.5.
According to Bajaj Broking, Nifty had an immediate resistance placed at 25,650, which it has already broken. The domestic brokerage had said that only a move above this level would signal a pause in the current corrective trend.
“Index is seen consolidating in the range of 25,350-25,900 in the last 9 sessions. A breakout or a breakdown below this range will signal next direction trend. Volatility is likely to remain elevated amid uncertain global cues. A breach below Tuesday’s low 25,327 will open further downside towards the 200-day EMA and the previous gap-up area placed around 25,100-25,200,” it added.
MORE TO COME…