Sensex Falls As Fed Hikes Interest Rates; Signals More Hawkish Outlook

Business

oi-Sunil Fernandes

Benchmark indices fell in trade, as the US Fed signaled a more hawkish tone, while hiking interest rates.

By Sunil Fernandes

Published: Thursday, December 15, 2016, 9:24 [IST]

Indian equities opened lower as the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates and signalled a faster pace of increase in interest rates. While the interest rate hikes of 25 basis points was on expected lines, what did not go down well was the hawkish tone of the US Fed. In fact, it signalled as many as three rate hikes next year.

Overseas, Asian markets were in the red, barring Japan"s Nikkei 225, and Wall Street ended lower after the Federal Reserve decision. Crude oil too slumped along with equities and was down 4 per cent, while gold dropped to a 10-month low.

The Sensex dropped 58 points in trade, while the Nifty fell 19 points in trade, following the rate hike decision.

Leading the set of losers from the Nifty were stocks from the banking space like ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank. Adani Ports, Cipla and Infosys were the only stocks that managed to gain ground from the Nifty.

Meanwhile, FIIs on December 14, 2016 stood as net seller in both equity and debt segment. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs. 3992.73 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs. 4157.15 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs. 4724.59 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 4568.59 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs. -731.86 Crore and Rs. -411.44.

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