SENSEX slips below 81,000, NIFTY falls 170 pts as Q2 earnings disappoint Street; all sectoral indices in the red

At 9:24 AM, the S&P BSE SENSEX was trading at 80,443.04 levels, down 563.57 points, or 0.70%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index was trading at 24,574.50 points, down 175.35 points, or 0.71%.

The decline in stocks could be attributed to disappointing Q2 numbers, management commentaries, and guidance by major companies such as Bajaj Auto, Nestle India, Wipro, LTIMindtree, Havells, Polycab, and Tata Chemicals, among others. 

Infosys results were good; however, there were no positive surprises, which spolied the market mood. 

Besides, relentless selling by foreign investors and continuous tensions in West Asia, too, weighed on sentiment. 

Foreign investors (FIIs/FPIs) on Thursday net sold equities worth ₹7,421.40 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth ₹4,979.83 crore. 

Broader Market

The more domestically-focussed companies were underperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE MidCap index was trading at 47,559.75 points, down 284.84 points, or 0.60%, while the BSE SmallCap index was trading 594.82 points, or 1.05%, at 55,994.23 levels. 

Buzzing Stocks

Tejas Networks stock was trading over 7% higher at ₹1,204 apiece on the BSE ahead of its Q2 result announcement.

Wipro shares were up nearly 5% at ₹554.40 after the company posted a good set of numbers for the September 2024 quarter.

Global Markets

Asian stocks were mixed, with Japan's Nikkei rallying amid a weaker yen. The dollar index, which measures the currency against six rivals, including the euro and yen, held steady at 103.78 after climbing to 103.87 on Thursday for the first time since August 2.

Crude oil futures inched higher on Friday, supported by a surprise drop in US oil inventories and simmering Middle East tensions. 

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pared their gains to end essentially unchanged on Thursday, while the Dow notched a record closing high as investors parsed an array of mixed quarterly earnings and digested a series of robust economic reports.