Global slowdown fear: Sensex, Nifty fall for 2nd day

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex and Nifty closed lower for the second day in a row on Friday due to a decline in index major Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, and Infosys amid concerns over global economic slowdown.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 236.66 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 60,621.77 with 20 of its constituents ending in red. During the day, it fell 273.18 points or 0.44 per cent to 60,585.25.

The broader NSE Nifty fell by 80.20 points or 0.44 per cent to end at 18,027.65 as 36 of its stocks closed with losses.

“Shaking off the weak lead from Wall Street, domestic indices attempted to trade higher due to economic optimism that stemmed from China’s reopening. However, concerns over the global economic slowdown eventually caught up and dragged markets lower,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Global Financial Services said that the equity market continued to trade lower in sync with developments abroad, mainly the US markets.

From the Sensex pack, Hindustan Unilever fell the most by 3.84 per cent amid concerns over increase in royalty and central services arrangement fee to its parent Unilever group.

Reliance Industries declined by 1.15 per cent ahead of its financial results while Infosys closed lower by 1.03 per cent. Among others, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, Bajaj Finserv, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti and Bharti Airtel also dropped. Power Grid was the biggest gainer, rising by 1.2 per cent. HDFC Bank, HDFC, ITC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India were also among the gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge fell 0.66 per cent and smallcap index declined 0.50 per cent. Among sectoral indices, telecom dipped 1.35 per cent, commodities went lower by 1.03 per cent, while consumer durables (0.99 per cent), FMCG (0.91 per cent), metal (0.89 per cent), realty (0.69 per cent), teck (0.65 per cent) and industrials (0.55 per cent) also declined.

Energy, financial services, utilities, bankex and power were the gainers.