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Friday turned out to be a dismal day of trade for Indian equity benchmarks with frontline gauges breaching their crucial 17,000 (Nifty) and 57,050 (Sensex) levels. After making cautious start, Indian equities extended their decline in morning deals, amid weak global cues coupled with uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant. India reported 14 fresh Omicron cases on Thursday, taking the tally of patients contracting the highly infections coronavirus variant in the country to 87. Traders remain concerned with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s statement that the consumer sentiment index in November is far below the pre-pandemic levels though better than November last year, suggesting the economic recovery is excruciatingly slow and uninspiring. Besides, continued foreign fund outflow dented sentiments in the markets. As per provisional data available on the NSE, Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,468.71 crore.

Selling got accelerated in second half of trade, as some anxiety remained among traders with a private report stating that India's growth recovery has been led by capital expenditure push by the government so far, but fiscal constraints might prove to be a challenge going forward in terms of driving investments. Traders failed to get any sense of relief with a private report that advance tax collections in the third quarter of the fiscal year almost doubled from the year-earlier period, underscoring hopes of a sustained economic recovery amid the threat from the Omicron Covid-19 variant. Market participants also overlooked the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in its latest report has said that India registered the highest ever annual FDI Inflow of $ 81.97 billion (provisional) in the financial year 2020-21. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry noted that FDI inflow in the last 7 financial years (2014-21) is $ 440.27 billion, which is nearly 58% of the total FDI inflow in last 21 financial years (2000-21: $ 763.83 billion). 

On the global front, Asian markets finished mixed on Friday, while European markets were trading mostly in red following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street and as traders continue to weigh the likely impact of the monetary policy decisions of from the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England on the economy and financial markets. Traders are also concerned after several countries across the world announced stricter restrictions on movements to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is now spread to more than 77 countries. Back home, on the sectoral front, stocks related to cement industry were in focus with ratings agency ICRA’s statement that rise in input costs for cement manufacturers is expected to hit the sector's overall operating margins by 200-230 basis points (bps) in current financial year (FY22).  The major inputs required in the production of cement are coal, petcoke and diesel. Elevated freight cost also added to the production cost. Banking stocks were in watch amid reports that banking services, especially at branches across the country, have been hit hard following the commencement of a two-day strike by about 900,000 employees to protest against privatisation of public sector banks.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 889.40 points or 1.54% to 57,011.74 and the CNX Nifty was down by 263.20 points or 1.53% to 16,985.20.       

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 58,062.28 and 56,950.98, respectively and there were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.  

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 2.42%, while Small cap index was down by 2.07%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.32% and TECK up by 0.85%, while Realty down by 3.78%, Bankex down by 2.62%, Finance down by 2.56%, Energy down by 2.59% and Auto down by 2.53% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.84%, HCL Technologies up by 0.96%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.82% and Sun Pharma up by 0.61% and TCS up by 0.16%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.89%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.55%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.43%, Titan Company down by 3.25% and HDFC down by 3.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union minister Jitendra Singh has said that artificial intelligence, as one of the frontier technologies, is shaping India's present and future economy. He added that the country has started seeing impact of artificial intelligence across healthcare, agriculture, education, governance and financial services. Singh said that innovation ecosystem in India is providing companies new opportunities to create value, evolve and grow.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the rules of the game for ever. He said ‘We have been experiencing disruption in business models across industries. Digitization has provided an impetus especially to the startup ecosystem in India and it is radically transforming India by catapulting grassroots level innovation’.

India is at the pivotal point with the technologies shaping up for the future like artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, block chain, green energy and quantum computing, and is getting ready to make one of the biggest technology transformations of the century. Singh said the Department of Science & Technology (DST) has made concerted efforts in cultivating and promoting scientific temperament amongst the masses and is leading the innovation drive in the country.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,298.15 and 16,966.45 and there was 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.    

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 4.73%, Infosys up by 2.90%, HCL Technologies up by 0.88%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.77% and Sun Pharma up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.61%, Tata Motors down by 4.42%, ONGC down by 3.89%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.47% and Hindustan Unilever down by 3.44% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC decreased 49.71 points or 0.71% to 6,955.36 and Germany’s DAX decreased 112.49 points or 0.72% to 15,523.91, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.94 points or 0.11% to 7,268.55.

Asian markets finished mixed on Friday as the tapering pandemic-era stimulus by the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England dampened the risk appetite in the market. Technological sector witnessed huge sell off in the session amidst woes on the impact of interest rate hikes. Market got pressured with the implications of continued spike in Omicron variant, spike in inflation, and Sino-US tensions. Shanghai posted sharp loss in the session with its blue-chips in three month low rate due to hefty selling by Foreign Institutional Investors. While, Japan’s Nikkei dipped the most among the Asian stocks.

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