Stock market crash today: BSE Sensex and Nifty50, the Indian equity benchmark indices, tanked in trade on Friday, despite a strong opening and the Nifty reaching a new all-time high. The decline was primarily influenced by losses in major index contributors such as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, and IT stocks.
The BSE Sensex plummeted by 900 points, falling below the 74,000 mark. Similarly, the NSE’s Nifty50 dropped by more than 200 points, slipping below the 22,450 level.
At 1:14 PM, BSE Sensex was trading around 73,716.91, down 894 points or 1.20%. Nifty50 was at 22,424.25, down 224 points or 0.99%. Barring Tata Steel and Bajaj twins, all other constituents of the Sensex pack traded with cuts.
The overall market capitalization of all companies listed on the BSE witnessed a significant decrease of Rs 2.67 lakh crore, bringing the total value down to Rs 405.83 lakh crore, said an ET report.
Bajaj Finance shares rose over 6% after the Reserve Bank of India lifted restrictions on its lending products, allowing it to resume sanction and disbursal of loans in the banned segments. The stock emerged as the top gainer on the Sensex.
ET quoted V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, saying that global and domestic cues are positive for the markets, with the decline in dollar index, correction in the US 10-year bond yield, and Brent crude below $84 further strengthening the bulls.
He also noted that the strong buying by DIIs, facilitated by the sustained flow of funds, is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Asian markets opened higher, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rising 1.1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index spiking 2% higher, on course for a 5% gain for the week. Wall Street equities rose overnight after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that further interest rate increases remained unlikely. Foreign institutional investors sold Indian shares on Thursday, offloading stocks worth Rs 964 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,352 crore on a net basis, cushioning the foreign outflows.
Oil prices edged up in early trade on Friday on the prospect of OPEC+ continuing output cuts, but the crude benchmarks were headed for weekly losses on U.S. economic uncertainty and limited crude supply disruptions caused by the Israel-Hamas war. Brent crude futures for July rose 18 cents to $83.86 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was up 19 cents to $79.14 per barrel.
The Indian rupee rose 6 paise to 83.40 against the US dollar in early trade, fuelled by the drop in U.S. Treasury yields before the U.S jobs report. The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six peers, was last at 105.25 and is set to clock a 0.7% decline for the week, its worst weekly performance since early March.
