Sensex Closes Marginally Down

India’s BSE Sensex shed nearly 20 points to settle at 74,295 on Friday, tracking cautious global sentiment after the US Federal Reserve delivered its first interest-rate hike in more than three years and signalled further increases this year. This raised concerns over foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows, while geopolitical tensions remained elevated. At the same time, ongoing strong IPO activity continued to put pressure on the market. Tata Group stocks led losses, with TCS, Titan and Tata Steel falling between 1.7% and 4.3%, amid fresh uncertainty about the conglomerate's control structure and leadership. Other top losers included Asian Paints (-2%), Maruti (-2%), Tech Mahindra (-1.8%), Sun Pharma (-1.6%) and NTPC (-1.6%). On the flip side, Adani Ports outperformed, climbing 3.8%, after global brokerage Jefferies highlighted multiple growth drivers across the group’s infrastructure and energy businesses. For the week, the index shed about 0.7%.

The SENSEX Index went up by 245 points or 0.33 percent on Friday to close at 74560 points. The rise was led by HDFC Bank (2.55%), UltraTech Cement (2.04%) and Bajaj Finance (1.96%). On the downside, the weakerst performers were Tata Consultancy (-3.89%), Tata Motors (-3.40%) and Infosys (-1.78%).

India’s BSE Sensex edged up about 0.2% to 74,435 on Friday, after the benchmark was largely muted in the previous session, as investors took some comfort from easing crude oil prices, while continued Middle East tensions and a rush of initial public offerings capped gains. Brent crude eased 0.9% to around $104 a barrel. Investors also remained focused on the National Stock Exchange’s roughly $2.3 billion initial public offering. Expected foreign inflows linked to the IPO could support the rupee, although the heavy IPO pipeline is also drawing liquidity away from the secondary market. Among stocks, Lodha (3.5%), Yatharth (6.6%), Netweb (1.6%), and Syrma SGS (3.6%) were among the notable gainers. Meanwhile, tech stocks remained in the red, led by Infosys (-1.2%), Tech Mahindra (-1.9%), Coforge (-1.2%), and Wipro (-1.1%). Tata group stocks were also among the notable decliners, with TCS, Tata Motors, Tata Investment Corporation, and Tata Chemicals falling between about 2.6% and 7.8%.