Market ends in red as global risks pile up

Mumbai: The Sensex and Nifty racked up losses for the fourth straight session on Friday, mirroring a risk-off sentiment overseas as stubborn inflation and faltering global growth sapped investor confidence.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on the backfoot and stayed in the negative zone throughout the session, ending 360.78 points or 0.61 per cent lower at 58,765.58. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty declined 86.10 points or 0.49 per cent to close at 17,532.05. Bajaj Finserv was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, diving 3.45 per cent, followed by Maruti Suzuki which lost 2.39 per cent after the country's largest carmaker reported a 46.16 per cent decline in September sales, impacted by the global semiconductor shortage. Bharti Airtel shed 2.22 per cent after the Department of Telecom (DoT) slapped a penalty of Rs 1,050 crore on the firm based on sector regulator Trai's recommendation five years ago. Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, NTPC, ICICI Bank and TCS were among the other losers. On the other hand, M&M, Dr Reddy's, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, PowerGrid and Tata Steel were among the gainers, climbing as much as 3.05 per cent.

"Despite favourable growth in India's core sector output, which accelerated by 11.6 per cent in August from 9.9 per cent in July, domestic indices were in red reflecting weak global cues and losses in heavyweights. High Eurozone inflation at 3.4 per cent in September, slowing global growth and the existing Chinese crisis bolstered global sell-off.