Sensex down 350 pts; SmallCaps up; ITI, MMTC zoom 11%

Indian equity market opened with steep losses on Friday after IT majors – Infosys and HCL Technologies lowered growth forecast for FY24. A spurt in US bond yields followed by weakness in global peers also weighed on the sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex opened over 500 points lower at 65,895, but soon recouped some of the losses and was quoting around 66,150 – down 250 points. The NSE Nifty 50 touched a low of 19,635, and was seen testing the 19,700 level.

Infosys was the major loser, down over 2.5 per cent after the IT major lowered its growth guidance. Axis Bank, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, SBI and ICICI Bank were the other prominent losers among the Sensex 30 stocks.

On the positive front, HCL Technologies soared over 3 per cent. Titan and IndusInd Bank were the other notable gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index was up 0.1 per cent, while the SmallCap index added 0.2 per cent.

Overnight, the US indices – Dow Jones, Nasdaq, the S&P 500 declined over 0.5 per cent each after inflation in the US rose slightly more than expected at 0.4 per cent on a month-on-month basis. This send the US 10-year Treasury yeilds surging to 4.73 per cent.