Bears Prevail As Nifty Snaps 4-Day Winning Streak, Sensex Sheds 505 Points
Indian equity benchmark indices snapped a four-day rising streak and faltered on Wednesday with investors on edge regarding the approval of raising the $31.4 trillion US debt ceiling and concerns revolving around the economic outlook of the world’s second-largest economy China.
Headline indices shot down in the last trading session of May, with Sensex tanking nearly 550 points.
At 1:23 pm, Nifty50 traded 0.74% lower at 18,495.9 levels and Sensex shed 505 points or 0.8%, however, set to end the month on a higher note with gains over 2%.
The market fear barometer India VIX jumped 3.8% to 12.46 levels on Wednesday.
Asia’s second-largest economy China witnessed a shrinking manufacturing activity for May, as its Manufacturing PMI contracted more than expected to 48.8 against an Investing.com forecast of 51.4, on the back of weakening demand.
Concerns from losses in Chinese markets spilled over to Asian peers, including the Indian counterpart.
Read Also:Â Asian Heatmap: Shrinking Chinese Data Spills Losses Over to Peer Markets
Banking and financial stocks led the losses on Dalal Street, while state-owned heavyweights ONGC (NS:ONGC) and NTPC (NS:NTPC) exerted pressure on the domestic market too.
Under the Nifty umbrella, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services cracked the most, while Nifty Pharma provided some support.
Market giants Bharti Airtel (NS:BRTI), Sun Pharma (NS:SUN), SBI Life (NS:SBIL), Tech Mahindra (NS:TEML) and Tata Motors (NS:TAMO) were among the leading stocks extending gains on the Nifty pack, while Axis Bank (NS:AXBK), HDFC twins, ONGC and NTPC pulled the index lower.
The Indian stock market closed lower today, snapping a four-day winning streak.
- The Sensex, a benchmark index for the Bombay Stock Exchange, fell 505 points.
- The Nifty 50, a similar index for the National Stock Exchange of India, also closed lower.
This indicates that sellers (bears) were in control of the market today, driving stock prices down.