Sensex Declines 709 Pts., Nifty Settles At 15413 On Weak Global Cues

Markets after previous day's sharp gains have tumbled in trade today owing to weak global cues. At the close, Sensex ended lower by 709 points or 1.35% at 51,822.5, while Nifty dropped to 15413, down 225 points or 1.44%. Broader markets underperformed with Nifty Midcap 100 plunging 1.63%.

Largely, the markets fell ahead of the US Fed chair Powell's testimony to Congress scheduled later in the day that shall provide more cues to the monetary policy stance of the world's most developed economy.

From the Nifty pack, BPCL, Hero Motocorp, TCS, Power Grid and Maruti Suzuki emerged as top gainers, while laggards included stocks like Hindalco, UPL, Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Wipro.

Among Nifty sectoral indices, all sectors ended in the red, with Nifty metal (down 4.87%), Nifty media (3.5%) and Nifty realty (2.19%) being the worst hit.

BofA Securities as per a leading dailies report has revised its year-end Nifty target from its earlier projection of 16,000 to 14,500 now, down more than 6 per cent from the current levels. Fast tightening monetary conditions, slowing growth/fears of US recession and the probable Nifty EPS (earnings per share) cuts are cited as the major headwinds for the stock markets in the near-terms as per BofA Securities.

Meanwhile, on continued FPI selling, global sell-off in equities and emerging market currencies as well as higher crude oil price, rupee in trade today fell to a fresh low of 78.4025 per US dollar.

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