The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their eight-day winning streak which saw benchmarks create new highs on five days in a row as investors were seen booking profits at higher levels, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 605 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 18,650. ICICI Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC and HDFC Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.
The Sensex closed 416 points lower to close at 62,868 and Nifty 50 index fell 116 points to settle at 18,696.
In the last eight trading sessions, Sensex has rallied a whopping 3.5 per cent or 2,139 points, data from the stock exchange showed. The swift rally in Indian markets to record highs came after foreign portfolio investors returned to Indian markets after a lull of two months in September and October. FPIs bought shares worth Rs 36,239 crore, according to NSDL data.
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Meanwhile, shares retreated in Asia on Friday after a mixed day on Wall Street as optimism over signs the Federal Reserve may temper its aggressive interest rate hikes was replaced by worries the economy might be headed for a recession.
A U.S. measure of inflation that’s closely watched by the Federal Reserve eased in October, raising questions over the central bank’s determination to keep raising interest rates to tame price increases.
And activity in American manufacturing contracted in November for the first time since May 2020, according to the Institute for Supply Management. The report also showed that prices are falling.
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Back home, selling pressure was broad based as ten of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Auto index's over 1 per cent fall. Nifty IT, FMCG, Pharma, Private Bank, Bank and Financial Services indexes also fell between 0.5-1 per cent.
On the other hand, Media, Metal, PSU Bank and Realty shares witnessed buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.9 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.6 per cent.
Eicher Motors was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3 per cent to Rs 3,340. Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consumer Products, SBI Life, Hindustan Unilever, Hero MotoCorp, TCS, Divis Labs and ICICI Bank also fell between 1-3 per cent.
On the flipside, Apollo Hospitals, Tata Steel, ONGC, Grasim Industries, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports, Bharat Petroleum and Britannia Industries were among the gainers.
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