Indian stock market witnessed a reversal trend in the past week as both Sensex and Nifty 50 closed trading in the red.
The market started the week with losses on Monday as various big-player stocks suffered a decline in value. Even though the Nifty 50 was able to end the day with a slight increase in index value, Sensex settled lower than previous closing levels.
Heavy selling pressure pushed down stock values of index heavyweights such as Airtel, Infosys, and Reliance Industries.
On the second trading day, stocks continued to show downward trends as major IT stocks fell sharply. The stock market was taking cues from global capital markets which were posting back-to-back losses in IT sector stocks.
Statistics regarding the strengthening of the US domestic economy also triggered panic among investors as they feel the strong economy will push US Federal Reserve to continue following an agressive interest rate hike policy. On Tuesday, investors were also looking forward to the decision of the monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India.
As RBI increased the benchmark interest rate by 35 basis points on Wednesday, Indian equity markets continued to show a decline in the index values. The announcement of the Reserve Bank of India that it was slashing growth estimates of the Indian economy also put heavy pressure on the Indian stock market.
While FMCG stocks showed strength amidst volatility, Realty and Media related to stocks suffered huge losses.
After back-to-back losses, the Indian equity market posted gains on Thursday as a late surge pushed index values upwards. While the market remained flat for most of the day, the surge in banking stocks helped the market attain gains. Pharma and realty sectors continued to suffer huge setbacks.
The equity market crashed on Friday but recovered slightly towards the close to end 0.62% lower. IT sector was the worst hit – the top 5 losers in the NIFTY50 index were IT companies. The Indian rupee closed 16 paise higher at 82.27 per dollar against the previous close of 82.43.
