Indian shares extend losses to fifth day: Nifty dips below 23,850

Indian shares were wobbly at the time of opening on Friday.

Nifty and Sensex continued their downward trend for the fifth consecutive session, pressured by declines in banking and FMCG stocks.

16 out of the 30 stocks in the Sensex were down in the red.

In early trade, the Sensex fell 204.20 points, or 0.26%, to 79,013.85, while the Nifty was down 0.22% at 23,899.30.

Market sentiments remained negative after the US Fed's hawkish signals.

Selling from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) also continued.

On Thursday, FIIs sold around ₹4224 crore (around £394.7 million) worth of Indian equities.

In the past two weeks, FIIs have sold Indian shares worth around ₹14,287 crore.

Stocks in focus in India

The Nifty IT index scored early gain fueled by Accenture's upbeat quarterly revenue and upgraded guidance.

The brief rally was driven by advances in IT heavyweights TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and Coforge.

Wipro also managed to hit a new record high.

In the Nifty, gains were led by Dr Reddy's Laboratories, which soared up close to 3%.

Shares of the pharma giant have been upbeat as it received an upgrade from global brokerage firm Nomura earlier this week.

Titan, NTPC, and Powergrid made up the other gainers.

Asian markets on edge

Asian equities traded cautiously on Friday as investors awaited US inflation data for cues on monetary policy direction.

The Shanghai Composite rose 0.5%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng inched up 0.16%.

Gains were supported by the People’s Bank of China maintaining its one-year loan prime rate at 3.1% and the five-year rate at 3.6%, against expectations of a rate cut.

Markets are also watching for Hong Kong’s inflation data and China’s potential announcement of its one-year Medium-Term Lending Facility (MLF) rate.

The Nikkei traded flat after giving up early gains, while the yen hovered near a five-month low amid speculation that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) would not raise rates soon.

The Kospi fell over 1%, with technology stocks under pressure, as the won slid to its weakest level in more than 15 years.

The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.3%, weighed down by losses in commodity-linked stocks.

US markets end flat reversing early gains

After Wednesday's sharp sell-off triggered by the Fed's hawkish outlook, US stocks showed early signs of recovery on Thursday.

However, gains faded throughout the session, leaving major indices mostly flat by the close.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke its ten-day losing streak, inching up 15.37 points (0.1%) to 42,342.24.

The Nasdaq Composite slipped 19.92 points (0.1%) to 19,372.77, and the S&P 500 edged down 5.08 points (0.1%) to 5,867.08.

Early strength stemmed from bargain-hunting, as investors sought opportunities following Wednesday’s losses, which drove the Dow to a one-month low.

Market watchers are eyeing the upcoming US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data, which is expected to play a pivotal role in guiding bond yields and shaping investor sentiment.

A pullback in 10-year yields below 4.50% could provide relief to markets in the near term.

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