Shillong, July 21: The Nifty experienced a sharp decline on Friday, triggered by lackluster results and guidance from IT firms, including Infosys, as per Deepak Jasani, HDFC Securities’ Head of Retail Research. It marked its fastest drop in about 18 weeks, closing at 19,745 levels, down 1.17 percent or 234.2 points from the previous day.
NSE’s trading volumes remained higher than usual, while broad market indices performed better than Nifty, with the small-cap index closing 0.13 percent in the positive, though the advance-decline ratio was lower at 0.82:1.
Jasani noted that despite a 0.92 percent weekly rise, Nifty lost some early week gains due to the impact of Infosys’ weak guidance on the Indian IT sector’s outlook, hampering its pursuit of the 20,000-mark.
As per IANS, while heavyweights succumbed to the bearish trend, small caps displayed resilience. Global markets presented a mixed picture, with the US market struggling due to weak earnings, while UK retail sales exceeded expectations with a 0.7 percent MoM growth.
Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, attributed Nifty’s lower opening to selling in IT heavyweights after Infosys lowered its FY24 growth guidance. Except for PSU bank and auto, all sectors ended in the red, with IT, consumer durables, and FMCG being the major laggards.