Author: Partha Halder
After languishing near three-month lows under the weight of triple-digit crude oil and pre-Fed jitters, Dalal Street mounted a dramatic late-session reversal on Thursday. Powered by record domestic mutual fund inflows, both Sensex and Nifty erased intraday losses to close in the green.
Dalal Street suffered a sharp downturn on Wednesday as geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East drove Brent crude beyond the $100 mark. Compounded by a slide in the Nifty IT index and Fed rate hike anxieties, both the Sensex and Nifty closed at their lowest levels in three months.
A sharp escalation in West Asia pushed Brent crude close to $100 per barrel, triggering a broad-based market rout on Dalal Street. With the rupee sliding to a monthly low and US rate hike odds rising, both Sensex and Nifty extended their multi-week slide.
Dalal Street finally got a breather on Thursday, September 4, after four straight sessions of punishment, but the close was nowhere near the day’s high. What looked like a strong comeback in the morning turned into a cautious close after the closing auction shaved off gains.
It was a tale of two sessions in one day. Dalal Street started Thursday with swagger, ended with a whimper.
Dalal Street started September on a sour note. After a gap-down open, benchmark indices never recovered, ending deep in the red as a lethal mix of $95 crude, spiking US yields and fresh US-Iran missile exchanges sent global risk assets tumbling.
Dalal Street closed Tuesday on a tired note. After flirting with 77,231 intra-day, the BSE Sensex settled at 76,944.28, down 12.99 points or 0.017% at 3:32 pm IST, while NSE Nifty 50 shut shop at 24,055.80, down 24.60 points or 0.10% at 3:31 pm IST.
Dalal Street ended the last trading day of August on a sombre note. The bulls tried, but the headwinds were too strong.
After bleeding for two straight sessions, the bulls roared back in the final hour on Friday. The BSE Sensex climbed 330.91 points, or 0.43%, to close at 77,264.51 and the NSE Nifty 50 added 84.80 points, or 0.35%, to end at 24,175.65 as of 3:32 pm IST – well above the previous close of 76,933.59 and 24,090.85.
Dalal Street’s brief romance with the bulls ended in tears on Wednesday. What started as a cautiously optimistic morning turned into a full-blown sell-off by the closing bell, as benchmark indices capitulated to heavyweight selling.