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The stock market closed flat on the last trading day of the week after a volatile session, as investors awaited Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.
During the final minutes of the trade before it closed, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex was up by 80.12 points at 81,133.31, and the Nifty was up by 11.70 points at 24,823.20. During the week, the Sensex gained 0.7 per cent, while the Nifty gained 0.9 per cent. During the trading hours, approximately 1,810 shares advanced, while 1,603 shares declined. A total of 68 shares remained unchanged on Friday. The top gainers on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were Bajaj Auto, Coal India, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, and Bharti Airtel. Conversely, Wipro, Divi's Laboratories, Nestle India, LTIMindtree, and Asian Paints were among the major decliners on August 23. "It was a quiet trading session for the Nifty, which remained in a narrow range and ended the day almost flat. Market sentiment was cautious, influenced by a global wait-and-see approach ahead of the US Fed Chair's speech at Jackson Hole," said Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd. "Meanwhile, investors are exercising caution and awaiting Powell's signals for further insights into the interest rate trajectory," stated Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. Sector-wise, the market showed a mixed performance, with the auto sector seeing decent gains, while the real estate and IT sectors lagged. Broader indices also remained range-bound, finishing slightly lower. During the day, the India VIX surged by 4.20 per cent, closing at 13.56, indicating increased volatility. As the world's largest consumer market, India is under constant global scrutiny as international markets become increasingly dependent on it. This is helping the Indian market to maintain favourable sentiment amid challenges such as inflationary pressure and unemployment. In other regulatory news, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani faces a five-year ban and a Rs25 crore fine from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for diverting funds from Reliance Home Finance. Twenty-seven other entities, including key staff of Reliance Home Finance, have also been prohibited by SEBI from accessing the capital markets. Consequently, stocks linked to Anil Ambani's companies were down on Friday. (ANI)
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