Indian Stock Market Today: Domestic stock market indices, Sensex and Nifty, fell nearly one per cent on Friday as fears of higher fiscal deficit in the US and rising bond yields weighed on investor sentiment.
The BSE’s Sensex fell 1.06 per cent to a low of 80,727.11, after opening at 81,323.05, compared to previous close of 81,596.63. The Nifty plunged 1.09 per cent to 24,541.6 in the morning session. The 50-share index opened at 24,733.95.
“There is slight risk off in global markets. This is evident from the strength in alternate assets like gold and Bitcoin. The fundamental issue is the high fiscal deficit of the US which the market feels is unsustainable. The weak US 20-year bond auction and the spike in yields of 5-year, 10-year and 30-year bonds indicate the declining confidence in US bonds,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.
Last week, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the US government’s rating by one notch, reflecting the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.
Analysts said that a spike in US bond yields also weighed on investor sentiments.
“Wall Street suffered steep losses during Wednesday’s session as multiple headwinds converged to weigh on investor sentiment. The major averages rebounded from initial declines but slumped back into negative territory as the day progressed, ending sharply lower despite recovering from their worst levels,” said Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities.
The Dow plunged 816.80 points (1.9 per cent) to 41,860, while the S&P 500 dropped 95.85 points (1.6 per cent) to 5,844 and the Nasdaq tumbled 270.07 points (1.4 per cent) to 18,872.
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Bitcoin reached a record high, fuelled by growing optimism around U.S. cryptocurrency legislation. The surge followed increased bipartisan congressional support for stablecoin regulation, digital currencies pegged to the dollar.
The Nifty Auto lost 1.26 per cent and Nifty IT fell 0.76 per cent.
The NSE companies that lost the most included Power Grid Corporation (2.19 per cent), ITC ltd (1.65 per cent), Reliance Ltd (1.59 per cent) and Trent (1.58 per cent). All broader market indices fell, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 declining 0.38 per cent and 0.2 per cent.
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