Indian stock indices see another weekly decline
New Delhi New Delhi: Indian stock indices declined during Friday’s session and recorded weekly losses, with several sectoral indices reporting sharp losses. Auto, media, pharma, PSU banks, realty, healthcare, oil & gas were some of them, according to NSE data. The Sensex closed 329.92 points, or 0.43 per cent, lower at 76,190.46, while the Nifty closed 113.15 points, or 0.49 per cent lower at 23,092.20. The Sensex is now down nearly 10,000 points from its all-time high of 85,978 points hit last September. The Sensex has declined 3 per cent so far this new year. Indian markets are witnessing volatility amid uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s policies. Investors fear possible disruptions in global trade during Trump’s presidency. Weak domestic economic growth, selling by foreign portfolio investors are also weighing on the stock markets. In 2024, the Sensex and Nifty grew around 9-10 per cent. In 2023, the Sensex and Nifty grew 16-17 per cent on a cumulative basis. In 2022, they grew a mere 3 per cent each. Weak GDP growth, foreign fund outflows, rising food prices and slow consumption were some of the hurdles that kept many investors away in 2024.
“FIIs will continue to sell, putting pressure on largecaps like banking. The irrationality in a market characterised by reasonable and even low valuations for largecaps like banking and excessive valuations in the broader market has to reverse at some point. But we don’t know when that will happen,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Vijayakumar said, “The third quarter results of IT companies and management commentary indicating better prospects for the sector suggest that the sector is a safe bet right now.” Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research, Kotak Securities, said that a number of events including global developments, the upcoming Union Budget, RBI policy and the ongoing Q3FY25 season will continue to shape market movements over the next fortnight.
Indian equity markets continued their underperformance against most global markets this week. The broader market remained weak with midcap and smallcap indices underperforming their larger peers. Most sectoral indices ended the week in the red with the BSE realty index witnessing a sharp correction. The BSE IT index was an outlier as it put up a strong performance in a relatively weak market. FIIs continue to remain net sellers in Indian equities, adding pressure on market performance. The Q3FY25 earnings season has been largely in line with our subdued expectations. The rupee gained marginally this week and Brent crude has corrected,” Chouhan said.
