The stock markets tumbled on Friday and the benchmark 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, Sensex, closed below the 16000-mark due to meltdown in global markets on eurozone issues and worries over slowing domestic economy. However, the rupee appreciated to close below 56 against the U.S. dollar.
The Sensex dipped by 253.37 points to close at 15965.16. While the FMCG sector marginally gained by 0.37 per cent, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. The fall was led by capital goods (down by 2.99 per cent), power (2.49 per cent), automobile (2.17 per cent), oil and gas (2.11 per cent), IT (2.01 per cent) and banks (1.84 per cent).
On the National Stock Exchange, the broader 50-share Nifty index closed at 4841.60 with a fall of 82.65 points.
Meanwhile, the rupee closed at 55.54/55 a dollar on Friday against Thursday's close of 56.08/09. During the day the rupee traded in the range of 55.53 and 56.28.
Brent crude fell below $100 per barrel for the first time since October 2011.
Global and Indian markets witnessed continued selling pressure this week led by concerns over the debt crisis in Greece and Spain, rupee depreciation and lower than expected GDP growth.
“We believe that markets are likely to remain range-bound in the near-term and would look for major events such as elections in Greece on June 17 and key policy actions from the government's side,” said Teena Virmani, Vice- President- Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities
However, with a long-term view, she said, “valuations are attractive and investors should use dips to buy stocks of fundamentally sound companies with strong balance sheet and ethical managements.”
“Last week opened well above the level of 4900 but failed to sustain above major retracement level of 5020 that has triggered fresh weakness along with secular weakness in world markets and euro currency,” Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Technical Research of Kotak Securities.
