Sensex Down 100 Points, Nifty Below 22,400; Info Edge Zooms 5%

Indian key stock market indices started slightly down on Friday, influenced by decreases in banking and IT shares, mirroring a trend seen in other global markets.

The S&P BSE Sensex was quoting at 73,613, down 58 points or 0.1 per cent, while the Nifty50 quoted at 22,387, down 17 points or 0.08 per cent.

M&M rallies 7 per cnt on the Sensex, folowed by Tata Motors, Tata Steel, SBI, Kotak Bank, and Ultratech Cement. However, weighing on the index were losses in Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Infosys, Reliance, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, and HUL.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap, and SmallCap indices started with 0.4 per cent gains each.

Among sectors, the Nifty FMCG index fell 0.4 per cent, followed by the Nifty Private Bank index (0.3 per cent). On the flipside, the Nifty Auto idnx rallied 1.5 per cent.

Market View by Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services

There are some positive global and domestic cues which augur well for the market. The decline in US inflation in April to 3.4% YoY and retail sales cooling off indicate a soft landing of the US economy, paving the way for rate cuts by the Fed. This favourable global construct can impart resilience to the mother market thereby providing stability to other markets. Domestically, the improvement in the voter turnout in the 4th phase of polling is positive from the market perspective since it removes some jitters associated with election results.