MUMBAI: Rising inflationary fears gripped the market, with Nifty and Sensex ending lower on cues from the overnight fall in the US markets and the rupee plunging to a new low. FIIs sold a provisional Rs 3,974 crore worth of Indian shares, dragging down the Nifty by 1.68% to 16,201.8 and the Sensex by 1.84% to 54,303.44, which left investors poorer by Rs 3.13 lakh crore.
Their selling also contributed to the fall in the rupee to a record low of 77.93/USD before it recovered some of its losses to close at 77.83 on Friday. Financials and commodity stocks led the declines with Kotak Bank slumping nearly 4% to Rs 1,791.8, followed by Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Hindalco and Reliance, which fell 3-4%.
Global events like the US FOMC meet next week and US retail inflation data for May hitting a 40-year high would set the tone for the Indian market next week. Analysts expect the downtrend to continue. Rohit Srivastava, founder IndiaCharts, pegs the Nifty bottom in the current series, expiring June 30, at 15000. He expects resistance to kick in at 16300.
“Friday’s move negated the hope generated post the policy,” Srivastava said. “Now it looks like the slide will continue lower.” Fear gauge India Vix rose by 2.27% to 19.58. A reading above 20 signals more uncertainty. The Nifty at Friday’s close was down almost 13% from its high of 18604.45 on October 19 last year.