Indian Equities End Lower For Second Straight Session; Hawkish Cenbanks Weigh
Indian equities ended lower for the second straight session on Friday as global central banks continued to remain hawkish in their fight against inflation.
The 30-share Sensex fell 461.22 points or 0.75 per cent to settle at 61,33.81, while its broader peer, the Nifty50, slipped 145.90 points to close at 18,269.
"Stocks at Dalal Street went for a toss, along with other global markets, as there is chatter all across the globe that the Fed may not change its hawkish tune so soon. The dot plot showed that the terminal rate projection rose to 5.1 per cent from 4.6 per cent in September. Inflation remains a key concern, and the central banks across the globe will try hard to fight against it," said Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.
On the Nifty, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, HUL, Tata Steel and JSW Steel were among the top gainers.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories, M&M, Adani Ports, Asian Paints and BPCL were among the biggest Nifty losers.
All sectoral indices ended lower, with Nifty Auto, PSU Bank, IT, and Pharma shedding 1-3 per cent.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England signalled a prolonged rate-hike cycle on Thursday, emulating US Federal Reserve's stance and raising fears among investors about potential damage to the global economy.
Earlier, Nomura, in a note, said that Nifty50 is likely to see muted gains in 2023 due to high domestic valuations and risks of spillovers from a potential global recession.
"Technically, lower top formation on daily charts and double top reversal formation on intraday charts are indicating further downside from the current levels. In addition, the Nifty not only broke the important support level of 18,400 but closed below the same. The next support level for the index would be 50-day SMA or 18,100-18,000 levels," said Amol Athawale, Deputy Vice President - Technical Research at Kotak Securities.
"On the flip side, 18,400 could act as an immediate resistance zone for the index, and above the same the index could retest the 20-day SMA or 18,550. In case of further upside, the index could move up to 18,700," added Chouhan.
