India’s benchmark indexes posted their steepest declines in nearly two months on Thursday, dragged down by heavyweight IT firms and as investors adjusted positions due to the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts.
The NSE Nifty 50 fell 1.49% to 23,914.15, while the BSE Sensex lost 1.48% to 79,043.74.
The Nifty 50 monthly derivatives series expired on Thursday, which meant that investors have to close or roll over their contracts. The Bank Nifty derivatives contracts expired on Wednesday.
The small- and mid-caps bucked the weakness to end little changed as they have no derivatives and minimal exposure to IT stocks.
“The decline in markets today is mainly due to the expiry pressure of the current month’s futures and options contracts,” said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities.
India shares end higher led by Adani stocks
IT stocks tumbled 2.39% after U.S. inflation and consumer spending data overnight suggested interest rate cuts could be slower than expected. That could impact spending by clients in the U.S., a key market for IT companies.
“ … (the) market seems to have found an excuse for profit booking in IT stocks,“ said Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart.
The IT index has rallied about 9% this month, while the Nifty has gained just 0.3%.
Among individual stocks, Adani Enterprises, the Adani Group’s flagship firm, rose 1.6%. Adani Green Energy and Adani Energy Solutions jumped 10% each.
Adani Total Gas surged 16% as the conglomerate’s stocks continued their rebound from a selloff that was triggered by the U.S. indictment of the group’s founder last week. The Group has denied all allegations.
Insurers SBI Life fell 5.1% and HDFC Life lost 3.4%, the most on the Nifty, after a media report said the insurance regulator may consider a cap on insurers selling products to their parent bank’s clients.
That dragged financials by about 0.75%.
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