Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on
Friday, with the Sensex and Nifty crashing nearly 2% each amid weak global
market trends. Foreign fund outflows and fears of aggressive tightening by the
Fed in the face of warnings of a global recession have dented investor
sentiments.
Markets made a gap-down start and extended losses to end near intraday lows as
sentiments remained fragile as the World Bank said the world could be heading
towards a global recession in 2023 as central banks across the world simultaneously
hike interest rates to combat persistent inflation.

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“With persistent bearish pressure from global stocks amid rising yields and
dollar index, the domestic market surrendered to the global trend despite its
strong decoupling scenario and encouraging macroeconomic data,” said Vinod
Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services. “Post the release of US
inflation data, which showcased a MoM increase in inflation, the global market
has been pricing in the likelihood of a more aggressive policy response from
the Fed,” he added.

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The Sensex plunged 1,093.22 points or 1.82% to settle at 58,840.79. During the day, the Sensex tanked 1,246.84 points or 2% to 58,687.17.
The Nifty tumbled 346.55 points or 1.94% to close at 17,530.85.

The broader indices ended in red with the BSE Mid cap index down by
2.85% and the Small cap index down by 2.38%. The top losing sectoral indices on
the BSE were Realty down by 3.53%, IT down by 3.37%, Basic Materials down by
3.05%, TECK down by 3.03% and Auto down by 2.67%, while there were no gaining
sectoral indices on the BSE.

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Top laggards from the Sensex pack were UltraTech Cement down by 4.51%,
Tech Mahindra 4.45%, Infosys 3.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra 3.58%, Wipro 3.19%,
TCS 3.08%, Nestle 3.02%, Reliance 2.44%, HCL Tech 2.39% and HDFC 2.21%.
IndusInd Bank was the only gainer, up by 2.63%.

The rupee declined by 7 paise to close at 79.78 against the US dollar,
following a strong dollar in overseas markets and losses in domestic equities.

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Asian markets also settled sharply lower on Friday with the Shanghai
Composite losing 2.30%, the Nikkei 225 down 1.11%, the Hang Seng down 0.89% and
the KOSPI Composite falling 0.79%.

European markets were mostly trading in the negative territory. The US
stock markets had ended lower on Thursday.

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Brent crude, the international oil benchmark climbed 0.32% to $91.13 per
barrel.
According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FII) sold
shares worth a net Rs 1,270.68 crore in the domestic market on Thursday.