Equities settle sharply low on global cues; Nifty IT, realty among losers

New Delhi, Feb 11 India's key benchmark equity indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- declined sharply and settled in the red on Friday due to global factors.

"We are seeing a sharp cut in the market on the back of a sharp jump in the US bond yields due to four decade-high inflation. However, most of this fear is already factored in, therefore we have to check how the market will negotiate a high-interest environment because we have seen the scenario of rising interest rates and rising equity markets," said Santosh Meena, Head of Research at Swastika Investmart.

On Friday, Sensex settled at 58,153 points, down 1.3 per cent or 773 points, whereas Nifty settled at 17,375 points, down 1.3 per cent or 231 points.

All the Nifty sectoral indices declined sharply on Friday, with Nifty IT, PSU Bank, and realty declining the most, exchange data showed.

"Aggressive FII selling resulting from negative global cues wreaked havoc in the domestic market today. Globally markets traded in red amid mounting concerns of surging US inflation which fuelled fears of a hawkish rate hike by the central bank. US inflation surged 7.5 per cent on an annual basis with the consumer price index for all items rising 0.6 per cent in January," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"On the domestic front, all sectors were deep in red with IT, realty and PSU banks being the most affected."

On the specific stocks front, Grasim Industries, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, UPL, and HCL Technologies were the top five losers, declining 3.4 per cent, 3.1 per cent, 2.8 per cent, 2.4 per cent, and 2.4 per cent, respectively.

Indian Oil Corporation, Indusind Bank, Tata Steel, NTPC, and BPCl, on the other hand, were the top five gainers.