New Delhi: The Indian market’s longest weekly winning streak since 2010 concluded this week, as significant selling pressure emerged today.
This decline was spurred by a global market sell-off, triggered by new data from the US, reigniting fears of a recession.
For the first time since October 2022, these concerns have returned to the forefront, contributing to increased volatility and uncertainty in the market. In this context, the Nifty 50 closed today’s session down by 1.7%, at 24,717 points, culminating in a weekly loss of 0.50%.
This represents the index’s first weekly fall after eight successive weeks of gains, with 30 stocks closing the week lower.
In a similar vein, the Sensex concluded its eight-week streak of gains with a decrease of 0.43%, ending at 80,981 points, with 20 of its constituents ending the week lower.
During Thursday’s trading, both indices reached new highs, with the Nifty 50 surpassing the 25,000 threshold for the first time, reaching a record 25,078 points, and the Sensex breaking past the 82,000 level to a new high of 82,129 points, following the anticipated clarity on the Federal Reserve’s rate cut.
However, these advances were negated in today’s trading following the release of fresh US data on Thursday, which revealed a lower-than-expected ISM manufacturing index at 46.8%, indicating an economic downturn.
Moreover, initial jobless claims saw their most significant increase since August 2023, and disappointing earnings from major technology firms further weakened market sentiment.
These unfavourable data releases followed the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain interest rates at a 23-year peak of 5.25%–5.50% for the eighth consecutive meeting in July 2024, as anticipated, with Chair Jerome Powell suggesting a potential rate reduction in September.
