Weekly Wrap: Sensex ends lower, recession fears grip global markets

On Friday, Sensex ended at 80,981, down 855 points or 1.08 per cent and Nifty closed at 24,717, down 293 points or 1.17 per cent. With this frontline indices snapped an eight-week rally.

On a weekly basis, Sensex and Nifty both posted losses of 0.43 per cent and 0.37 per cent respectively. This is the first time in the last eight weeks that both benchmarks posted a loss.

On a weekly basis, Eicher Motors (5.7 per cent), LTIMindtree (4.8 per cent), Grasim Industries (4.8 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra (4.8 per cent), Wipro (4.3 per cent) and Hero MotoCorp (3.7 per cent) were the top losers in the Nifty. NTPC (5.9 per cent), BPCL (5.6 per cent), Asian Paints (5.3 per cent), Divis Laboratories (4.2 per cent), Power Grid Corporation (4.1 per cent) were the top gainers.

Market experts said: “The domestic market saw a broad-based sell-off, indicating that it may have reached an exhaustion point due to a lack of new triggers for further upward movement. Q1FY25 earnings have been lacklustre so far, while broader market valuations remain significantly high.”

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Realty (3.76 per cent), Nifty IT (3.04 per cent), Nifty Auto (2.04 per cent), Nifty FMCG (1.57 per cent) and Nifty (1.16 per cent) were the biggest losers. On the other hand, Nifty Energy (2.53 per cent), Nifty Pharma (1.39 per cent) and Nifty Media (1.19 per cent) were the top gainers in the last week.

“Additionally, weak earnings from the US IT sector, a potential rise in unemployment, the possibility of further rate hikes by the BOJ, and a slowdown in China’s growth are all dampening market sentiment,” they said.

(With inputs from IANS)