The Sensex and Nifty closed lower for the third consecutive session today amid lower global markets even as economic growth rose to a five-quarter high of 7.2 per cent in Q3 of the current fiscal. While Sensex fell 137 points to 34,046 level, Nifty closed 34 points lower at 10,458 points. The indices started the day on a flat note, extended gains for a brief period and closed lower on selling during the last hour of trade.
Metal, banking and consumer durable sector stocks led the fall in key indices. While the BSE bankex fell 0.85% or 241 points, BSE consumer durables index lost 0.71% or 151 points to close at 21,036 level.
The BSE Metals index was down 0.95%or 143 points to 15030 level. On the Sensex, ICICI Bank (2.63%), SBI (2.31%) and Infosys (1.19%) were top losers. Market breadth was negative with 1,169 stocks closing higher compared to 1539 stocks ending in the red.
India’s economic growth surged to a five-quarter high of 7.2 per cent in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal, enabling the country to regain the status of the fastest growing economy in the world ahead of China after a year’s gap. The Chinese economy recorded a 6.8 per cent growth rate during the same quarter
“Though the GDP data is positive, overall global concerns are still hurting domestic markets. The NSE index is range-bound between 10,300 and 10,650, with concerns on state-bank stocks in the near term,” says Aditya Agarwal, head -technical research, Way2Wealth
Meanwhile, a Reuters poll found Indian stocks will recover most of their recent losses, helped by strong corporate earnings, but will close out 2018 a little short of the record high hit at the end of January.
The projected rise in 2018 is the smallest year-ahead expected gain in the last six years of Reuters polls.
The BSE Sensex index is forecast to rise to 34,687 by the middle of the year. It is estimated to rise more than 4 percent to 35,875 by end-2018 from Monday’s close of 34,445.75, according to the poll of around 50 strategists taken from February 16-27.
That is an upgrade from consensus forecasts made in a Reuters poll in October.
Global markets
Asian stocks were mostly lower on Thursday after Wall Street marked its worst monthly performance in two years as hawkish-sounding comments from new Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reverberated across the broader risk asset markets.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1.6 percent to finish at 21,724.47. Australia’s S&P/ASX 2 00 shed 0.7 percent to 5,973.30. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.6 percent to 31,035.98, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.4 percent to 3,273.76. South Korean markets were closed for Independence Movement Day, a national holiday.
France’s CAC 40 dipped 0.2 percent in early trading to 5,311.47, while Germany’s DAX slipped 0.5 percent to 12,379.95. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent at 7,216.16. US shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures adding 0.1 percent at 25,066. S&P 500 futures were up 0.2 percent at 2,719.
WALL STREET: The S&P 500 fell 30.45 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,713.83, while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 380.83, or 1.5 percent, to 25,029.20 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 57.35, or 0.8 percent, to 7,273.01. The dominant fear for the month was the threat of higher inflation and interest rates, and February was the worst month for the US market in two years.
