Markets end weak, dragged by banks and financials

Among Sensex stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank was the top loser, falling 3.06%, as the Canadian Pension Fund made a partial exit by selling 4 crore shares of the private lender on Thursday. Titan Company, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank were other index losers.

Equity markets ended marginally lower on Thursday, taking cues from global peers and further concerns over rising crude oil prices. Brent crude surpassed $121 a barrel on Thursday. Prospects of the US Federal Reserve rising interest rates by 50 bps on multiple occasions further kept investors on edge across the globe, said market watchers.

After falling as much as 546 points intra-day, the BSE Sensex ended lower by 89.14 points, or 0.15%, at 57,595.68, and the broader Nifty-50 ended lower by 22.90 points, or 0.13%, at 17,222.75. The broader markets, however, ended higher in an otherwise volatile session. The BSE mid-cap index rose 0.34%, and the small-cap index gained 0.16% on Thursday.

Among Sensex stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank was the top loser, falling 3.06%, as the Canadian Pension Fund made a partial exit by selling 4 crore shares of the private lender on Thursday. Titan Company, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank were other index losers.

“Markets are roiling and commodity prices are erratic as concerns about inflation and the impact of the war in Ukraine loom over economy. Further, US Fed Reserve officials signalled they are ready to take more aggressive steps to tame inflation, thus increasing the volatility,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

He added that foreign investors have turned net buyers of Indian equities in the last few sessions, which is a positive signal for the markets. However, there is no clarity on the absolute reversal of trend until the geopolitical crisis ends, and the crude prices fall below $100 a barrel, analysts said. On Thursday, FPIs sold shares worth $227.92 million, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth $273.79 million, provisional data from exchanges showed.

The overall market breadth also broadly favoured the bears on Thursday, as out of 3,505 stocks on the BSE, 1,998 stocks declined. Elsewhere in Asia too, markets ended mostly mixed on Thursday. The Hang Seng ended down by 0.94%, and the Shanghai Composite ended lower by 0.63%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended marginally higher by 0.25%.