Nifty Losing Streak Continues Amid Rate Hike Fears

Stock Market This Week

The Indian equity market started the week, and the year on the high - rising for the first two days. However, bears took over the market for the remaining week. NIFTY50 lost over a percent in the week. Let us look at how the week shaped up for investors.

Indian stock market this week: Nifty movement

The Indian benchmark indices gained over half a percent on Monday. Most other global markets were closed for the holidays. The rally was influenced by investors' faith in the Indian economy. China is showing signs of reopening, which would increase demand for metals. The metal index jumped 2%.

On Tuesday, the Indian equity market ended the day at a high. The indices traded flat for most of the trading session, but a push in the last hour helped indices close with marginal gains. PSU banks, Consumer Durables, and Finance stocks ended the day in the green. Selling pressure was seen in FMCG and Metal stocks.

The benchmark indices tanked nearly a percent on Wednesday as investors could no longer overlook the mixed global cues. All the sectors struggled, and Metal and Realty were the worst hit. The least affected sectors by negative sentiments were Pharma & Healthcare.

On Thursday, the Indian benchmark indices lost another half a percent. The biggest drag for the day was Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv, as both fell over 5%. Banking and Financial sector stocks saw very high selling pressure. However, all was not low - FMCG and Oil & Gas gained for the day.

The Indian equity market closed lower for the third consecutive day on Friday. Investors remained cautious and worried ahead of the earning season as quarterly updates from companies are a mixed bag for now. IT index shed over 2% amid weak global cues.

Market this week India: Top Nifty gainers and losers

Market this week India: Top sectoral gainers and losers

Key highlights for the week:

Bajaj Finance tanked nearly 10% in the last two sessions: Bajaj Finance's share price fell below Rs 6000 for the first time since July 2022. The reason for the fall is moderate growth in new loans and assets under management (AUM) for the third quarter of the current fiscal. These numbers are slightly lower than the expectation and hence the reaction. For more details, you can check our article here.

NIFTY Metal hits new high: Global brokerage firm Jefferies has turned positive on the Indian metal sector after a year of cautious view. The firm believes the worst-margin quarter for Indian steel and the big chunk of earnings cuts for Tata Steel/Hindalco are behind. It also added that any positive macro developments in China could provide an upside. It has upgraded two shares to Buy from Hold - Tata Steel with a target price of Rs 150) and Hindalco with a target price of Rs 600.

The ratio of corporate tax collection to GDP: After a gap of two years, India's tax corporate collection exceeded 3% in fiscal 2021-22 of the gross domestic product (GDP). Increased demand for goods and services was one of the reasons which made India Inc improve in profitability.

Mutual funds buying Delhivery and Policybazaar shares: Franklin Templeton bought shares of two Indian technology startups after concerns over valuations and higher interest rates eroded more than $20 billion in market value from five high-profile recent market listings. As per the data available, funds managed by Franklin Templeton bought at least 3.3 million shares of Delhivery Ltd. and more than 2 million shares of PB Fintech Ltd (Policybazaar) in November.

This is not investment advice. Investments in the securities market are subject to market risk, read all the related documents carefully before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future returns.