NBFC Sector Causes Sharp Fall of Share Market

Domestic equity benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 200 points in early trade on Friday led by losses in financial stocks amid concerns over the state of the NBFC sector.

The 30-share index was trading 211.04 points, or 0.53 per cent, lower at 39,318.68, and the broader Nifty slipped 34.25 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 11,809.50.

On Thursday, both benchmark indices posted their biggest one-day drop this year after the RBI delivered a rate cut on expected lines but failed to allay investor concerns regarding the non-banking financial company (NBFC) sector.

In the previous session, the 30-share BSE Sensex cracked 553.82 points, or 1.38 per cent, to settle at 39,529.72. The broader NSE Nifty plunged 177.90 points, or 1.48 per cent, to end at 11,843.75.

Top losers in the Sensex pack include IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, Maruti, PowerGrid, HUL, ONGC, TCS, RIL and HDFC twins, falling up to 1.38 per cent.

While, Vedanta, SBI, Infosys, L&T, Bajaj Finance and M&M were trading in the green.

No specific comment regarding the ongoing NBFC crisis was taken as a surprise while delay in monsoon added to the fear, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

The NBFC pack has been under heavy selling pressure following the bond defaults by mortgage lender DHFL on June 4, which led to a slew of rating downgrades for the company. The stock was trading over 4 per cent lower in early session.

"These patches of corrections will be near-term in nature, till the final budget, consolidation in oil prices and new measures will auger well for the market," he added.

Foreign fund outflow too weighed on investor sentiment here, traders said.

Foreign institutional investors sold equity worth Rs 1,448.99 crore on Thursday, and domestic institutional investors offloaded shares to the tune of Rs 650.84 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in China, Japan and Korea were trading on a mixed note in their respective early sessions.

Bourses on Wall Street ended in the green on Thursday.

On the currency front, the rupee was trading flat at 69.27 against the US dollar. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were 1.36 per cent higher at 62.51 per barrel.