Markets tumble after 4 days of record rally amid profit-taking, global sell-off

Mumbai, Jul 19 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled on Friday as investors rushed to book profits after four days of record-breaking rally and the global sell-off triggered by an IT outage that caused devices to crash globally.

Fall in blue-chip Reliance Industries also dragged the benchmarks lower.

The 30-share BSE Sensex hit its new all-time high of 81,587.76 in the initial trade but failed to carry forward the winning momentum and tanked 738.81 points or 0.91 per cent to settle below the 81,000-mark at 80,604.65. During the day, it plunged 844.36 points or 1.03 per cent to 80,499.10.

The BSE benchmark had hit the 81,000-mark for the first time on Thursday.

The NSE Nifty tumbled 269.95 points or 1.09 per cent and ended at 24,530.90 after hitting its fresh record peak of 24,854.80 during the opening bell. During the day, it declined 292.7 points or 1.18 per cent to 24,508.15.

Among the Sensex pack, Tata Steel tumbled over 5 per cent while JSW Steel tanked nearly 5 per cent.

Tata Motors, NTPC, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Reliance Industries were the other major laggards.

Infosys climbed nearly 2 per cent after the IT major reported a 7 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 6,368 crore in the April-June quarter and raised its growth outlook for the current financial year, signalling an improvement in the IT segment.

ITC, Asian Paints and HCL Technologies were the other gainers.

"The domestic market closed today with a downturn due to the global sell-off, triggered by operating system issues that caused devices to crash worldwide. The global IT outrage has led to disruptions in various Indian industries. The overvalued market is also experiencing profit booking ahead of the budget next week," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Microsoft users globally reported massive outages in services on Friday, with outage tracking website Downdetector showing users flagging disruptions across various services.

Country's leading stock exchanges NSE and BSE said they are not impacted due to the global outage of Microsoft systems even as disruptions were reported in functioning of several airlines, banks, media outlets worldwide.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge tanked 2.31 per cent and smallcap index dropped 2.22 per cent.

All the indices ended lower, with metal plunging 4.11 per cent, commodities tanking 3.07 per cent, oil & gas (2.87 per cent), power (2.67 per cent), auto (2.53 per cent), utilities (2.51 per cent), realty (2.44 per cent) and services (2.42 per cent).

On the weekly front, BSE benchmark climbed 85.31 points or 0.10 per cent and the Nifty went up marginally by 28.75 points or 0.11 per cent.

"Nifty reversed sharply on Friday after making a fresh high early in the day. The uptrend reversed on the 5th day as profit booking set across the market ahead of the Union Budget 2024," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

"Markets experienced profit-taking and shed nearly a per cent, erasing the gains of the previous trading session. This decline signals caution ahead of the Union Budget, as participants chose to book profits," Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled lower while Shanghai ended in the green.

European markets were trading lower.

The US markets ended in negative territory on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.07 per cent to USD 85.05 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 5,483.63 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 626.91 points or 0.78 per cent to settle at a fresh closing high of 81,343.46 on Thursday.

The broader Nifty climbed 187.85 points or 0.76 per cent to settle at an all-time closing high of 24,800.85. PTI