Today’s Share Market updates: On Thursday, Indian equity benchmarks fell, following the lead of global markets. The Nikkei index in Japan fell 0.91 percent, the KOSPI in South Korea fell 0.98 percent, the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.39 percent, and the Hang Seng Index fell 1.70 percent.
Overnight, all three major US stock indexes fell sharply as investors awaited US inflation data for clues about the severity of future interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed today at 60,614 points, down 420 points or 0.69 percent. Earlier in the day, it had dropped to 60,425.47.
In contrast, the NSE Nifty50 fell 121 points, or 0.66 percent, to close at 18,036. During the day, the index fell below 18,000, reaching a low of 17,969.40.
Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Titan, Grasim, Bajaj Finance, Apollo Hospitals, and IndusInd Bank led the way with 25 Sensex constituents and 39 Nifty50 constituents falling. Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, and Dr Reddy’s Labs gained up to 2.6 percent.
Sectorally, all indices finished in the red with indices falling in the range of 0.3 per cent to 2 per cent.
In contrast, US stock futures rose, indicating that Wall Street will open higher today. S&P futures rose 0.27 percent, Nasdaq futures rose 0.31 percent, and Dow futures rose 0.25 percent.
Domestically, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Eicher Motors, Bata India, and food delivery service provider Zomato would report quarterly results today.
According to preliminary data from the National Stock Exchange, foreign institutional investors purchased a net of Rs 387 crore in equities on Wednesday, while domestic investors sold a net of Rs 1,060 crore in shares.