Sensex ends 34 points down on weak global cues, Nifty settles at 7,733; Inox Wind, ABG Shipyard tank

Domestic benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty edged lower on Friday on account of weak global cues. Investors also remained cautious ahead of a US payrolls report for April that could influence bets on future US rate hikes. Sensex closed 33.71 points down at 25,228.50, while Nifty 50 index ended 2.05 points down at 7,733.45.

In the 50-share index, GAIL, BHEL, Eicher Motors, Tata Power and ACC gained between 2.80 per cent and 4.89 per cent. On the other hand, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Adani Ports, Wipro, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra slid 1.44 per cent and 2.32 per cent.

Inox Wind shares plunged 16.92 per cent on BSE despite the company reported 77 per cent year-on-year growth in net profits for the quarter ended March 2016.

Adani Port and Special Economic Zone fell 1.86 per cent, taking the week’s decline to 18 per cent, the biggest weekly loss since October 2008 after its March-quarter results failed to cheer investors.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel rose 1 per cent after the telecom company divested 950 telecom towers in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Helios Towers Africa to reduce debt.

Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, said, “The market continued to be lackluster as the recent gloomy manufacturing data from the global market dampened the interest of equity investors. The European market is in negative terrain ahead of US Jobs data today. FIIs turned to net sellers in the market due to the pessimism over the coming US data.”

Sectorwise, the BSE Healthcare index, the BSE IT index and BSE TECk index lost 0.86 per cent, 0.75 per cent and 0.56 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, the BSE Consumer Durables and BSE Oil & Gas index gained 0.70 per cent and 0.69 per cent, respectively.

Global cues remained sluggish with European counters making weak start, as investors are awaiting the US April payrolls report for more clues about the interest rate outlook in the world’s largest economy. The non-farm payrolls report is expected to show an increase of about 200,000 jobs in April, fewer than the 215,000 created in March. At the same time, the unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 4.9 per cent from 5.0 per cent. Moreover, recent global economic data and some corporate earnings from major Western firms have been lacklustre, leading to risk-off trading in Asian markets.