Closing Bell: Nifty ends near 16,400, Sensex drops around 900 points; Realty, IT stocks worst hit

The Indian market ended with a cut of more than one and half per cent on Friday as inflation fears and susbequent rate hikes by major central bank across the world weighed on the global markets. Tracking Asian peers and Wall Street rout, headline indices Nifty50 and the Sensex ended 1.63% and 1.56 % lower on the last trading day of the week. The broader Nifty 50 closed near 16,400, while the Sensex witnessed a cut of around 900 points.  

Following benchmarks, Nifty midcap and small cap indices closed lower by 1.8% and 2.5 % respectively as India Volatility Index (VIX) closed above 21-mark.  

All Nifty sectoral indices slipped in the red with IT, Realty dragging the market the most on Friday's closing. Though FMCG and oil & gas too ended up in red, but some buying interest was seen in stocks from these sectors.  

A steep crash in the US stocks as the market evaluated the need for a higher rate hike to tame elevated inflation levels wounded global markets with heavy selling, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"The Bank of England while raising its interest rates, warned about a possible risk of recession, aggravating investor fears. This period of volatility is the time for smart money to look for opportunities with buy-in-dip as the strategy with a focus on sectors that are expected to be least impacted by inflation & yield rise," said the expert. 

Meanwhile, among stocks, Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, ITC, ONGC, State Bank of India, NTPC, Sun Pharma and Tata Steel gained in a falling market.  

Bajaj Cements, Divis Laboratories, UPL, Tata Motors, Shree Cements, Axis Bank, Nestle India, Wipro, HDFC and Infosys were among top laggards.