The benchmark Indian equities declined on Friday amid volatile trade but managed to end the week slightly in the positive territory. Most of the benchmark indices in Asia Pacific ended in the red on Friday.
According to Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance CIO Sashi Krishnan there have been no major positive triggers for the market from the macro and earnings side. ?The good news, however, is that valuations are now at reasonable levels; we are now trading closer to 15 times one year forward,? he said.
On Friday, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of R445 crore, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth R355 crore, BSE?s provisional estimates show. FIIs have sold shares worth $0.97 billion in the year till date. ?FIIs still seem to be reluctant to buy into emerging markets, this trend is likely to continue for some more time,? said Krishnan.
On Friday, the BSE Sensex points slipped 117 points or 0.64% to close at 18,376, while the broader 50-share Nifty of the NSE was down 33 points or 0.61% at 5516. The Sensex gained 0.6% for the week but is down about 10% in the year till date. ?From a broader market perspective, growth and inflation clearly remain the major challenges. Though food inflation has eased a bit, fuel prices are likely to go up now which will add to inflationary pressures,? said Krishnan.
Among its regional peers, most of the key benchmark equity indices in Asia Pacific ended in the red. The Nikkei 225 and the Straits Times declined by 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively. The Hang Seng Index slipped the most at 1.3%, while the Shanghai Composite gained the most at 0.8%.
Back home, of the 30 Sensex stocks, 22 ended in the red while 8 ended up higher. In the broader market, breadth remained weak on the BSE throughout the trading session with about 50% or 1,485 stocks traded declining compared with 1,306 stocks that advanced. Most of the BSE sectoral indices ended in the red, with PSU, Metal and Oil&Gas indices declining by more than 1%. Consumer Good and Consumer Durables indices posted modest gains of 0.75% and 0.46%, respectively.
The NSE cash turnover on Friday was at R9,830 crore, while the six monthly daily average is R12,866 crore. Turnover in derivatives was R94,703 crore and the daily average for the past six months is R1.31 lakh crore.
India VIX, a volatility index based on the S&P CNX Nifty index option prices, declined 2% to 17.6. VIX is a measure of the market?s expectation of volatility over the near term and in general increases when the market is bearish.