Domestic Market Records Worst Weekly Drop in Eight Months

Domestic market recorded its worst weekly drop in eight months with feeble global cues dominating the sentiment. Sensex and Nifty 50 ended the week below 59,500 and 17,500 levels. In the week that ended on February 24th, Sensex tumbled by 1,538.64 points or 2.52%, while Nifty 50 dived by 478.4 points or 2.67%. More than ₹6.86 lakh crore of investors’ wealth has been eroded this week. Worries of more rate hikes have heightened as inflation is still higher than central banks like RBI and US Fed’s tolerance limit. Ajit Mishra, VP – of Technical Research at Religare Broking, said that the tone was negative from the beginning which further worsened as the week progressed. Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said that global bourses were cautious as the US PMI numbers came in better than expected on the heels of strong jobs data and raising fears of aggressive Fed action. The minutes of the central bank policy meeting also revealed concerns over high inflation and its commitment to bring inflation under control. India’s Q3FY23 GDP growth, scheduled to be released next week, is anticipated to moderate from 6.3% in the preceding quarter.