Sensex Today: Indian benchmark indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 dropped on Friday, as market watchers indicated that investors were likely booking profits at record levels before the release of US jobs and payrolls data later in the day in the US.
Around 3:30 PM, the BSE Sensex was at 81,126.78, down 1,074 points, or 1.31 per cent lower, while the Nifty 50 was at 24,803.95, down 341 points, or 1.36 per cent.
Among Sensex stocks, SBI, NTPC, Ultratech Cement, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank opened lower, while Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, and TCS saw gains.
Among individual stocks, KEC International rose 5% after the company secured orders worth Rs 1,423 crore.
Sector-wise, the Nifty PSU Bank index fell over 1%, weighed down by SBI and Canara Bank. Nifty Auto, Financials, Metals, Consumer Durables, and Oil & Gas sectors also opened in the red. Meanwhile, domestically-focused small-caps rose 0.4%, while mid-caps remained flat.
Global Cues
Markets in Asia-Pacific mostly fell as investors digested household spending data from Japan.
Japan’s household spending data for July rose 0.1 per cent in real terms from the previous year, which led the country’s
Benchmark Nikkei 225 to start the day marginally below the flatline, while the broad-based Topix started 0.42 per cent lower.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.8 per cent, and small cap Kosdaq was down 1.41 per cent. In contrast, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 had climbed 0.14 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 17,431, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,444.3 and mainland China’s CSI 300 futures were at 3,254, marginally lower than the last close of 3,257.76.
That apart, MSCI’s global equities index edged down on Thursday as investors digested mixed economic data while awaiting Friday’s crucial US jobs report. Oil prices held near 14-month lows as demand worries offset draws on inventories.
Thursday’s data showed US private employers hired the fewest workers in three and a half years in August while the July number was revised lower, potentially hinting at a sharp labour market slowdown.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 219.22 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 40,755.75, the S&P 500 lost 16.66 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 5,503.41 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 43.37 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 17,127.66.
