Market Closing: Sensex Drops 388 Points, Nifty Below 19,400; Coffee Cafe Day, Titan Top Gainers

Indian markets ended on a negative note during Thursday's session due to feeble global cues. Midcap and smallcap stocks, however, held steady inflows and outperformed benchmarks. Both Sensex and Nifty 50 dipped by over half a per cent. Consumer durables were top bulls, while IT, FMCG and oil & gas stocks dragged the broader sentiment. India's volatility index ended up by 1%.

Sensex ended at 65,151.02, down by 388.40 points or 0.59%, while the Nifty 50 benchmark shed 99.75 points or 0.51% to settle at 19,365.25. Bank Nifty was marginally down to end at 43,891.35.

On BSE, the Consumer Durables index surged by 660.44 points, while FMCG, Oil & Gas, and Utilities indexes dived by around 1% each. BSE IT index slipped by 108.42 points. In the broader market, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indexes advanced by 17.11 points or 67.14 points.

On Sensex, Titan, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank and Tata Steel were top gainers. While ITC, Power Grid, L&T, Nestle India, and Reliance Industries were top laggards with a downfall of 1% to over 2%.

Coffee Cafe Day, Jai Corp, and DB Realty were the top gaining stocks, while Globus Spirits, IRFC and Cressanda Solutions were among the top losers.

Of the total 3,740 stocks listed on BSE, about 1,834 stocks advanced, while 1,742 stocks declined and 164 stocks remained unchanged. A total of 231 stocks hit new 52-week highs, and about 31 stocks struck their fresh 52-week lows. Meanwhile, a massive 263 stocks touched upper circuit levels, and 234 stocks clocked lower circuits.

As of August 17, 2023, BSE-listed firms' market value stood over Rs 303.90 lakh crore.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "The mounting influence of weak global cues hindered the domestic market's ability to recoup, resulting in sustained selling pressure. The release of Fed minutes unveiled a divided stance among its members regarding the necessity of additional rate hikes, contrasting the previously anticipated rate pause. Concurrently, the Indian rupee experienced a decline due to the dollar index surpassing 103.5; however, likely intervention from the RBI offered a degree of support. Moreover, the escalation of US bond yields is expected to limit the influx of foreign investments into the Indian market, further impacting market dynamics."

In the latest minutes of FOMC, the Federal Reserve sounded hawkish as they continue to see inflation significantly above their tolerance limit. This has increased the possibility of a rate hike in forthcoming policies, which was enough to dampen sentiments on Wall Street on August 16.

In the minutes, FOMC said, "continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy." Although, FOMC cited several tentative signs that inflation pressures could be abating. But at the same time, FOMC also stressed that inflation remained "unacceptably high" and that further evidence would be required for them to be confident that inflation was clearly on a path toward the Committee's 2 per cent objective.

Asian stocks tumbled after the Fed's hawkish remarks and growing concerns over the world's second-largest economy, China. Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 141 points, while Australian equities index dropped by at least 0.7%. Marginal downside was seen in South Korea's KOSPI and Hong Kong's Hang Seng. However, China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced marginally.