Benchmark Sensex, Nifty Down by Nearly 1% on Friday

MAHARASHTRA, India – Benchmark indexes, Sensex and Nifty, were down by around 1% during the afternoon trading session on Friday, despite trade optimism powering up most stocks in the Asian stock market.

As most global stocks increased after the recent comment of US President Donald Trump saying that trade negotiations are well on its way, the Sensex and Nifty indexes slipped during the trading session. The Sensex index dipped by 0.84%, going down to as much as 342 points towards 40,437. Meanwhile, the Nifty index also recorded a 0.90% drop on stocks, losing around 108 points towards 11, 917.

Earlier in the day, the Nifty 50 index opened the trading session marginally higher at around 12, 065, going towards a high 12, 082 for the day. However, after registering its highest point for the day, the index started a downward trend until closing.

Among the top laggards that brought the Sensex down on Friday are SBI, YES Bank, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, and Tata Motors. However, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Infosys, and Kotak Bank were the top gainers for the index.

YES Bank, in particular, has tumbled over 5% on shares early on Friday session, which was mostly caused by the rating downgrades by the Moody’s Investors Service. The lender’s stocks were also seen trading 5.39% down at the Bombay Stock Exchange, going down by around 58.75 points.

On the National Stock Exchange, listed stocks index was also seen going down to as much as 5.23%, going down around 58.85 points.

Finance, auto, power, and utility sectors were the major decliners during the session, with each of them falling nearly 1%. Only the BSE telecom index ended Friday on positive territory.

Meanwhile, in other parts of Asia, stocks gained on Friday as investors hope for a trade deal between the US and China. Trade optimism increased, powering up the market after US President Trump said that the trade negotiations with Beijing are moving right along.

Japan’s Nikkei has increased by 0.2%, while the broadest index in the Asian-Pacific region outside Japan listed under the MSCI also added 0.4% for the day.

With the gains on Asian stocks at the end of the trading week, Euro shares are expected to follow with the increase. Major euro stock futures were expected to go up as much as 0.2% increase for the day.

As the euro trading session opens, the pan-European STOXX 600 index also tracked around 0.3% gains at around 8:19 GMT. Technology firms, banks, and retail companies were looking as the leaders for gains in the euro stock market.