NEW DELHI: Following three weeks of a bull run, domestic equity market corrected sharply on Friday with the benchmark indices - BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty - crashing more than 1% each.
BSE Sensex closed 1,017 points or 1.24% lower at 81,183 levels while the Nifty shut shop 293 points or 1.17% lower at 24,852 levels. Investors lost a whopping Rs 5.31 lakh crore as the market capitalisation came down to Rs 460.37 lakh crore on Friday against Rs 465.68 lakh crore in the previous session.
The fall is attributed to the nervousness ahead of the release of the US job data as this would give clarity on the state of the world’s largest economy and its willingness to go for a rate cut in near future. Profit booking at record high levels took place due to the Sebi’s deadline over foreign institutional investors (FIIs) disclosure norm.
Vishnu Kant Upadhyay, AVP, research and advisory at Master Capital Services, said investors are opting to stay on the sidelines, holding cash in anticipation of the US jobs report’s release. “This fall is attributed to concerns over a potential slowdown in the US labour market, following the ADP non-farm employment report, which revealed that private businesses added only 99,000 jobs in August, much below the forecasted 144,000. Market participants are awaiting official non-farm payrolls report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, expected later today,” added Upadhyay
Additionally, nervousness in banking stocks has surfaced ahead of the release of loan and deposit growth data. Nifty50 has fallen below the critical 25,000 mark, prompting put writers to cover their short positions, exacerbating the market downturn, he said.
As per Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, the domestic market was in a panic today due to the Sebi’s deadline over FIIs disclosure norm, however, this is not expected to impact India’s lucrativeness to FIIs in the long-term.
Coupled with a lack of new market catalysts and elevated valuations, a muted trend is expected to continue in the short term. Additionally, the continuous decline in oil prices to a 14-month low and weak job openings data are heightening fears of a slowdown in the US in the near term, stated Nair.
In the Nifty 50 pack, 43 constituents ended in red. Lending major SBI fell 4.4% after Goldman Sachs trimmed its rating on the public sector bank to ‘sell’ from earlier ‘neutral’ and also reduced its target price to Rs 742 apiece from an earlier price target of Rs 841 apiece.
Sebi norm not to impact India’s lucrativeness
As per Vinod Nair, research head, Geojit Financial, market was in panic due to Sebi’s deadline over FIIs disclosure norm. This will not impact India’s lucrativeness to FIIs in long term. Lack of new market catalysts and elevated valuations, muted trends are likely to continue in the short-term. Fall in oil prices to a 14-month low and weak jobs data are heightening fears of a slowdown in the US.