Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slumped sharply on January 3, snapping their two-day winning streak as weakness in IT and private banking stocks weighed on sentiment.
This pullback follows a strong session earlier, where the indices posted their best gains in six weeks.
Weak global cues also contributed to the decline, with major US indices reversing earlier gains to close lower on Thursday
The Sensex fell 0.63% to 79,439.01, while the Nifty slipped 0.56%, to 24,053.80.
The indices had a strong day on Thursday closing with almost 2% gains.
The gains came as foreign institutional investors turned net buyers after 12 straight sessions.
FIIs bought Indian equities worth over ₹1,506 crore.
Stocks in focus in India
Hero MotoCorp shares dropped over 2% after the company reported a 17.5% year-on-year decline in December sales, with total volumes at 3,24,906 units.
However, for 2024, the company registered a 7.5% growth in total sales, with volumes reaching 59,11,065 units compared to 54,99,524 units in 2023.
Avenue Supermarts, the parent company of DMart, saw its shares surge 10%, hitting the upper circuit.
The rally followed a robust 17.5% growth in third-quarter sales, marking the company’s strongest performance in several quarters.
In the Nifty, Tata Group stocks bucked the general trend to trade in the green. Shares of Titan, Trent, and Tata Motors were also trading higher between 1%-2%.
The biggest gainer in the 50-stock index was state-owned ONGC. Shares of the company rose over 2.4% on Friday.
The Nifty IT and Pharma indices lost over 0.7% each in early trade, reversing gains from the previous session, where they had risen 2% and 1%, respectively.
On the other hand, the Nifty PSU Bank index was the top performer, rising over 1% as stocks like SBI, Union Bank, and Bank of Baroda gained.
Nifty Bank, on the other hand, was down around 0.5%. Nifty Auto was also in the red as December sales data seemingly failed to impress investors.
Asian markets mostly in green
Asian stock markets traded mostly higher on Friday, shaking off negative cues from Wall Street overnight.
Optimism stemmed from a surprise decline in US weekly jobless claims, which signalled potential support for the Federal Reserve’s measured approach to lowering interest rates.
Japan’s markets were closed for New Year holidays, with trading scheduled to resume next week.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rebounded by 1% to 19,807.65, recovering some of the 2.2% losses incurred in the previous session.
Despite Friday’s gains, the benchmark remained 1.4% lower for the week. Tech stocks drove the recovery, with the Hang Seng Tech Index advancing 1.5%.
In mainland China, the blue-chip CSI 300 Index edged up 0.16% in early trading, stabilizing after Thursday’s steep decline, which highlighted concerns over economic prospects and potential trade tensions with the US as Donald Trump prepares to assume the presidency.
The post Tata Motors, Titan buck the general trend as India’s Nifty slips 160 points appeared first on Invezz