Markets end week higher, Thursday selloff pulls Nifty below 24,000; rupee hits record low

The equity benchmark indices ended the week largely higher, with the Sensex and Nifty posting gains for the week, even as a sharp selloff on Thursday (April 30) dragged the Nifty below the 24,000 mark and pulled the Sensex down 583 points. The Nifty Bank index fell more than 2% for the week, while the rupee touched a record low of 95.33 against the US dollar in Thursday’s trade.

On Thursday, the Sensex fell 583 points to close at 76,914, while the Nifty declined 180 points to settle at 23,998. The Nifty Bank index dropped 540 points to 54,863, while the Midcap index fell 592 points to 59,785. Markets ended off the day’s low, but breadth remained weak, with the NSE advance-decline ratio at 1:2.

From the Sensex basket, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Infosys Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, Bajaj Finance Ltd, Coal India Ltd and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd were the major gainers. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Eternal Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd, Tata Steel Ltd and Larsen & Toubro Ltd were the biggest laggards.

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Sectorally, Nifty IT and Pharma were the only indices to close higher on Thursday, while all other sectoral indices ended in the red. For the week, however, Nifty Pharma, Oil & Gas and IT emerged as the top-gaining sectoral indices, while Nifty PSU Bank was the biggest laggard. Indian Bank and Union Bank

fell more than 6% each during the week.

Among Nifty stocks, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Coal India and ONGC were the top gainers for the week. Shriram Finance, Axis Bank, IndiGo, ICICI Bank and Eternal were the top losers.

In Thursday’s trade, 40 of the 50 Nifty stocks ended lower, with Tata Motors DVR, Eternal and Hindalco among the top losers. Bajaj Auto rose nearly 5% after saying it will consider a share buyback on May 6. Hindustan Unilever fell nearly 3%, while Syngene International jumped 8% after its fourth-quarter earnings.

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In the broader market, Tata Chemicals, Bandhan Bank, Newgen Software and Oracle Financial Services Software were among the top midcap gainers for the week. On Thursday, Newgen Software rose more than 5% after its fourth-quarter results to emerge as the top midcap gainer.

MRPL, Indian Bank, Bank of India and APL Apollo Tubes were among the top midcap losers for the week and also featured among the biggest losers in Thursday’s trade, alongside AU Small Finance Bank.