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Failing to maintain the morning session gains, Indian stock indices closed Friday's session and the week in red. This marked eight consecutive sessions of decline in the domestic equity market indices, data showed.
Sensex closed at 75,939.21 points, down 199.76 points or 0.26 per cent, while Nifty closed at 22,929.25 points, down 102.15 points or 0.44 per cent. Nifty auto, media, metal, pharma, PSU bank, realty, consumer durables, and oil and gas were the top losers among sectoral indices, NSE data showed. "Relentless FII selling, coupled with mixed earnings, has put bulls on the defensive," said Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd. Domestic stock markets continued to decline over Trump's tariff concerns and continued outflow of foreign portfolios from India for the second month. US President Donald Trump reiterated his stance on tariff reciprocity in the joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, emphasising that the United States will match tariffs imposed by other countries, including India, to ensure fair trade. After the Trump-Modi meeting, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that the two leaders have agreed to start discussing trade and tariff-related issues. "President Trump's threat of reciprocal tariffs to be levied on trading partners in the months ahead would hit the roughly USD 600 billion worth of goods imported from European Union member states in 2024. In Europe, European stock markets have hit record highs earlier this week. News from Asia, India and the US will work to more than double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities. Vinit Bolinjkar, Head of Research at Ventura Securities said global macro uncertainties and mixed earnings kept investors wary. "Going forward, market direction will hinge on global trade developments, earnings outcomes, and sectoral momentum. A selective approach, focusing on fundamentally strong businesses, is advisable amid near-term volatility," Bolinjkar said. Sensex is now about 10,000 points below its all-time high of 85,978 points. Sensex has so far slumped over 3 per cent this New Year. Weak domestic economic growth, selling by foreign portfolio investors, have also been reflecting on the stock markets. The recent RBI repo rate cut failed to cheer markets, amid volatility world over. In 2024, Sensex and Nifty accumulated a growth of about 9-10 per cent each. In 2023, Sensex and Nifty gained 16-17 per cent, on a cumulative basis. In 2022, they gained a mere 3 per cent each. Weak GDP growth, foreign fund outflows, rising food prices, and slow consumption were some of the hurdles, keeping many investors at bay in 2024. (ANI)
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