New Delhi: Indian equity indexes fell substantially in the week ended Friday, as investors concerned that aggressive interest rate hikes to combat rising inflation might slow global growth. This comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday raised the repo rate by 40 basis points (bps) to 4.40 percent. To combat inflation, the US Federal Reserve raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by half a percentage point (50 bps), the largest increase in 22 years.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 867 points, or 1.56 percent, to close at 54,836, while the NSE Nifty fell 271 points, or 1.63 percent, to 16,411.Mid- and small-cap shares were weak as Nifty Midcap 100 fell 1.79 per cent and small-cap dived 2.53 per cent.
The NSE's 15 sector gauges were all in negative territory. Nifty Financial Services, Nifty IT, and Nifty Consumer Durables all fell 2.25 percent, 2.27 percent, and 2.29 percent, respectively, underperforming the index. The biggest loser was Bajaj Finance, which fell 4.85 percent to 6,003.40 rupees. Divi's Lab, Shree Cement, UPL and Axis Bank were also among the losers. The overall market breadth stood negative as 842 shares advanced while 2,513 declined on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, Wipro, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank), Wipro, Infosys and TCS were among the top laggards. Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, ITC, SBI, NTPC, and Sun Pharma, on the other hand, finished the day in the green.
Meanwhile, the maiden share sale of state-owned insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) was oversubscribed 1.27 times.
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