New Delhi: The Indian benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday extended fall for the third straight session amid Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The benchmark BSE Sensex opened with a 450-point cut and extended the losses to hit a low of 53,888, down 1,215 points intra-day. It, however, recovered partially and closed 769 points (1.4 per cent), down at 54,334.
On the other hand, the NSE Nifty hit an intra-day low of 16,134 but recouped losses to end at 16,243, down 255 points (1.5 per cent).
Midcap and smallcap shares finished on a negative note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 2.08 per cent lower and smallcap shares slipped 1.78 per cent.
Most of the sector gauges, compiled by the National Stock Exchange, closed in the red. Nifty Auto and Nifty Consumer Durables underperformed the index by falling as much as 3.55 per cent and 3.11 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty IT edged 0.14 per cent higher.
Titan, Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, HUL, Coal India, M&M, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Eicher Motors were the other draggers, cracking between 3 and 5 per cent. Maruti Suzuki tumbled another 4.7 per cent today, falling over 10 per cent in two days. The stock was the second biggest laggard on the Nifty50 index.
On the flipside, Dr Reddy’s Labs, ITC, Tech M, BPCL, Sun Pharma, Ultratech Cement, and Wipro gained in the range of 1 to 3 per cent.
In the previous session, Sensex had slipped 366 points (0.66 per cent) to close at 55,103 on Thursday; while Nifty had moved 108 points (0.65 per cent) lower to settle at 16,498.
Crude oil hit its highest in a decade this week and prices are set to post their strongest weekly gains since the middle of 2020, with the US benchmark up more than 18 per cent and Brent 13 per cent.
Bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo were trading significantly lower in mid-session deals.
Stock exchanges in the US closed in the negative zone in the overnight session.
Foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree in Indian markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 6,644.65 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.
“The war and surge in crude have completely transformed the economic scenario and market expectations. If the war prolongs global economic growth may be impacted,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.