Markets closed with modest losses; Sensex fell 179 points & Nifty settles below 15,700 mark

Domestic stocks markets ended a volatile session with modest losses on Thursday. The weekly F&O expiry added to the overall volatility.

Domestic equity benchmarks ended a volatile session with modest losses on Thursday. The S&P BSE Sensex lost 178.65 points or 0.34 per cent to end at 52,323.33. The Nifty 50 index fell 76.15 points or 0.48 per cent to settle at 15,691.40. The Nifty Bank index closed 398.10 points or 1.14 per cent lower at 34,605.40.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index cracked 1.29 per cent while the BSE SmallCap index slipped 0.58 per cent.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1389 shares rose and 1818 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 13 stocks decline and 37 stocks advanced. The five top gainers on Nifty were UltraTech Cement (up 1.69 per cent), TCS (up 1.64 per cent), Infosys (up 1.39 per cent), Asian Paints (up 1.36 per cent) and Tech Mahindra (up 1.30 per cent). The top five losers were Adani Ports (down 8.99 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 2.96 per cent), Hindalco (down 2.96 per cent), Eicher Motors (down 2.63 per cent) and NTPC (down 2.34 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 17,70,43,245 with 38,33,075 deaths. India reported 8,26,740 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 3,81,903 deaths while 2,84,91,670 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Fed's Monetary Policy

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday began closing the door on its pandemic-driven monetary policy as officials projected an accelerated timetable for interest rate increases, opened talks on how to end crisis-era bond-buying, and said the 15-month-old health emergency was no longer a core constraint on US commerce. Signalling that broad changes in policy may happen sooner than expected, US central bank officials moved their first projected rate increases from 2024 into 2023, with 13 of 18 policymakers foreseeing a "lift-off" in borrowing costs that year and 11 seeing two quarter-percentage-point rate increases. The Fed also raised its headline inflation expectation to 3.4 per cent for 2021, a full percentage point higher than the March projection but the post-meeting statement continued to say that inflation pressures are transitory.