The benchmark indices continued to extend losses and hit fresh day’s low in the afternoon trade, following an unexpectedly strong US jobs report, which dampened expectations of early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. At the same time, concerns over slowing earnings continued to persist. The Nifty traded below the 23,200 level. All the sectoral indices traded in the red with realty, consumer durables and media shares declining the most.
At 13:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 766.64 points or 0.99% to 76,612.27. The Nifty 50 index lost 243.50 points or 1.04% to 23,188.
The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 3.15% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index dropped 3.25%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 587 shares rose and 3,420 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.
Gainers & Losers:
Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.13%), Axis Bank (up 0.99%), IndusInd Bank (up 0.79%), Britannia Industries (up 0.26%) and Infosys (up 0.23%) were the major Nifty gainers.
Trent (down 3.91%), Adani Enterprises (down 3.76%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (down 2.73%), BPCL (down 2.48%) and Powergrid (down 2.35%) were the major Nifty losers.
Economy:
India's foreign exchange reserves fell by $5.7 billion to $634.59 billion for the week ended January 3, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday showed.
Foreign currency assets decreased by $6.441 billion to $545.48 billion, the data released on Friday showed.
Gold reserves increased by $824 million to $67.092 billion during the week. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by $58 million to $17.815 billion, the RBI said.
India’s reserve position with the IMF was down by $18 million at $4.199 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Just Dial tumbled 8.16%. The company reported 42.71% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 131.31 crore in Q3 FY25 as compared with Rs 92.01 crore in Q3 FY24. Revenue from operations increased 8.41% YoY to Rs 287.33 crore during the quarter.
Avenue Supermarts (Dmart) slipped 2.93%. The company’s consolidated net profit increased 4.8% to Rs 723.72 crore in Q3 FY25 as compared with Rs 690.61 crore inQ3 FY24. Net sales jumped 17.7% YoY to Rs 15,972.55 crore during the quarter.
Grasim Industries shed 2.56% after the company informed about a minor process safety incident that occurred at its Karwar plant in Karnataka on 11th January 2025, caused by a technical malfunction due to power tripping.
Biocon rose 1.65% after the company said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified Biocon Biologics’ Insulins facilities in Johor Bahru, Malaysia as voluntary action indicated (VAI).
NCL Industries tumbled 5.04% after the company’s cement production stood at 661,049 MT in Q3 FY25, registering a de-growth of 12% as compared with 749,703 MT produced in Q3 FY24.
Global Markets:
The U.S. stock futures point to a negative open Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down 76 points.
European and Asian shares dropped on Monday, following a strong US jobs report on Friday that fueled concerns about persistent inflation. This led to a rise in US Treasury yields and boosted the dollar. Brent crude oil prices surged to their highest level in over four months, exceeding $81 per barrel, amid renewed US sanctions against Russia.
China’s exports and imports in December beat expectations by a significant margin. Exports rose 10.7% from a year earlier, beating Reuters’ expectations of 7.3% year-on-year growth. The country’s imports in December unexpectedly rose 1%, compared with Reuters’ estimates of a 1.5% decline.
The robust job data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain its current interest rate stance. Investors are now keenly awaiting key US inflation data this week, including the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report on Wednesday, the New York Fed's one-year inflation expectations on Monday, producer prices on Tuesday, and jobless claims on Thursday.
The US stock market closed lower on Friday after the strong jobs report reignited inflation fears. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1.63%, the S&P 500 declined 1.54%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.63%.
Nvidia shares dropped 3%, while Advanced Micro Devices stock price fell 4.76% and Apple share price declined 2.41%. Constellation Energy stock jumped 25.16%, while Constellation Brands tanked 17.09%. Walgreens Boots Alliance stock price soared 27.55%.
The Labor Department reported that US nonfarm payrolls increased by 256,000 jobs in December, the largest increase since March. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%.
Investors are now turning their attention to the upcoming fourth-quarter earnings season, which begins this week with several major Wall Street banks reporting their results.