Staff of Reuters Read for 2 minutes Reuters, BENGALURU, July 8 – On Thursday, Indian equities finished down, driven down by losses across sectors, as investors awaited the start of the earnings season with Tata Consultancy Services’ reports. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed 0.92 percent lower at 52,568.94, while the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended 0.96 percent lower at 15,727.90. In tumultuous trading, markets have retreated from near record highs reached earlier this week as investors locked in gains ahead of the weekly contract expiration on Thursday. A drop in global markets, which were followed a dip in Asia due to China’s expanding crackdown on the internet sector, lowered sentiment, while oil prices dropped due to supply concerns. The India volatility index, which measures expectations for short-term market volatility, increased 11.03 percent to close at 13.56, the highest level in two weeks. “Right now, there are more negatives in the market than positives…crude oil prices are at all-time highs, the dollar is strengthening, and we’re seeing a delay in the monsoon,” said Rahul Sharma, market strategist and head of research at Equity99 markets. “Global markets are resting now after a good lengthy rally and will remain in a consolidation range and volatile in the short term,” Sharma added. Tata Consultancy, a software services behemoth, is expected to report strong June-quarter earnings. The Nifty IT index was the only major sub-index that ended the day in the green. On Thursday, the Nifty Auto and Nifty Bank indexes were among the biggest losers, down 0.91 percent and 1.39 percent, respectively. Following criticism of the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi named new federal ministries for health, information technology, and oil on Wednesday. (In Bengaluru, Shivani Singh and Sethuraman N R reported; Krishna Chandra Eluri edited)/n
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