Sensex plunges over 200 points, Nifty falls by 70 points in early trade

Indian equity indices dipped in opening trade on Friday, reflecting a negative trend in global equity markets. After a shaky start, the Sensex fell 236.59 points to 57,985.51. The Nifty dropped 70 points to 17,261.85.

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IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, and ITC were the main laggards in early trade within the Sensex group. Titan, Maruti, HCL Technologies, and Reliance Industries, on the other hand, were the winners.

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Asian markets are trading mostly in red with Nikkei 225 slipping 185.68 points or 0.68% to 27,125.62, Hang Seng declining 199.40 points or 1.11% to 17,812.75, Taiwan Weighted plunging 160.34 points or 1.15% to 13,731.71 and Jakarta Composite was down by 42.12 points or 0.60% to 7,034.50. On the other hand, Straits Times added 8.23 points or 0.26% to 3,159.79 and KOSPI was up by 5.09 points or 0.23% to 2,242.95.

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The US markets ended lower on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 38.75 points, or 1.02%, to 3,744.52 on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 346.93 points, or 1.15%, to 29,926.94. The Nasdaq composite fell 75.33 points, or 0.68%, to 11,073.31. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 10.19 points, or 0.58%, to 1,752.51.

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“Equity markets could exhibit a cautious trend with a negative bias in Friday trade owing to weakness across the global indices. The US September jobs report to be released later today would be keenly watched by investors the world over as this would set the market direction for the near term,” said Prashanth Tapse – Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Limited.

On Thursday, the Sensex rose 156.63 points, or 0.27%, to 58,222.10. The Nifty gained 57.50 points, or 0.33%, to close at 17,331.80.

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Brent oil futures declined 0.4% to $94.43 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures were flat at $88.53 per barrel. This week, both futures were up 7.4% and 11%, respectively, and were on track for their highest weekly gain since the beginning of the Russia–Ukraine war this year.

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Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 279.01 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 43.92 crore on October 6, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

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The rupee fell 16 paise to an all-time low of 82.33 versus the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, as a strong US currency and risk-averse investor mood weighed on the local currency.