Mumbai: Domestic equity benchmark indices traded lower in the morning trade on Friday tracking a sharp sell-off in US and Asian markets.
In early deals, Sensex dropped 0.37 per cent or nearly 300 points to 79,016.05. Nifty fell 0.60 per cent or 148.55 points to 24,388.05, hitting an intraday low.
Sector-wise, Nifty Metal led the decline, falling 2 per cent, followed by Nifty Realty which decreased by 1.56 per cent
Nifty Chemicals, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Auto declined up to 1.34 per cent.
Meanwhile, Nifty IT bucked the trend and jumped about 2 per cent.
Similarly, Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom, Private Bank and Media also traded in the green.
According to market experts, the bloodbath in US markets will impact most other markets, but India is likely to be the least impacted.
“The 5.6 per cent rout in Nasdaq was triggered by concerns of a big slowdown in data centre spending. The tech rout, particularly the sharp deceleration in AI trade, will turn out to be beneficial for India,” the experts said.
They further highlighted that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought equities worth Rs 35,781 crore in the last five trading days.
On Thursday, FIIs recorded net equity purchases of Rs 14,974 crore for the fifth consecutive session, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) remained net sellers with outflows of Rs 10,444 crore.
The ongoing rally has fundamental support from better-than-expected earnings growth and is being driven by large-caps which had become attractively valued, according to the analysts.
Additionally, crude oil prices showed positive momentum as the international benchmark, Brent crude, rose about 2 per cent to $100.31 per barrel.
Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained more than 1 per cent to $91.91 per barrel.
(IANS)
