Ahead of Market: 10 things that will decide stock market action on Friday

The Indian stock market extended sharp losses on Thursday, with Sensex and Nifty dropping up to 0.6% as oil prices jumped and indices saw sharp volatility during the CAS session on Sensex’s expiry day.

Sensex dropped over 460 points to close at 73,249 and Nifty 50 lost 124 points to end the session at 22,688. The drop wiped off more than Rs 3 lakh crore from the total market capitalisation of all companies listed on BSE, dragging it down to Rs 458 lakh crore.

Also read | Why did market crash today?


Here's how analysts read the market pulse

"Inflation concerns took centre stage today as renewed escalation in West Asia sent crude prices sharply higher. The rupee reversed its recent trend, weakening steadily through the session, which weighed on investor sentiment. Although the benchmark indices attempted a recovery led by banking stocks, the move failed to sustain at higher levels. With domestic bond yields climbing back to recent highs, equity valuation premiums came under renewed scrutiny, and selling broadened across almost all sectors. Consequently, tracking negative global cues ahead of Japan’s inflation data, Indian equities ended lower after a volatile session, with mid- and small-cap segments underperforming large caps. In the near term, foreign flows could remain under pressure as investors stay cautious on yields ahead of next week's policy decisions by the Fed, ECB and BoJ. Domestically, market direction will depend on Q2 earnings delivery, as investors react to management commentary on the demand outlook for the coming quarters,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments.

US stocks

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid more than 1% on Thursday as growth stocks weakened after earnings from mega-caps Tesla and Meta failed to allay AI-related concerns, with a recovery in oil prices further adding to market unease.

The weakness follows a strong session on Wednesday when the Nasdaq led Wall Street higher as robust results from SpaceX and Super Micro rekindled optimism around AI-linked stocks.

SpaceX dropped 3.9% and Super Micro fell 3.4% on Thursday as investors looked past earnings and weighed the soaring costs of AI investments and unclear return timeline.

European markets

In Europe, the STOXX 600 fell 0.7%, weighed down by tech-related stocks such as ASML, Schneider Electric and Siemens Energy.

Geopolitical concerns played out in oil markets, where Brent crude rose nearly 3% to $112 a barrel, near a five-month high, after more Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia raised the risk of wider conflict and supply disruptions in the Middle East.


Most active stocks in terms of turnover

HDFC Bank (Rs 4,190 crore), Eternal (Rs 2,662 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 2,407 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 2,243 crore), Infosys (Rs 1,968 crore), India Cements (Rs 1,908 crore), and RIL (Rs 1,784 crore) were among the most active stocks on NSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with the highest trading turnovers in the day.

Most active stocks in volume terms

Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 50.27 crore), Tata Teleservices (Traded shares: 20.9 crore), Yes Bank (Traded shares: 13.36 crore), Eternal (Traded shares: 8.55 crore), HDFC Bank (Traded shares: 6.03 crore), JP Power (Traded shares: 5.72 crore) and India Cements (Traded shares: 5.58 crore) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on NSE.

Stocks showing buying interest

Tata Teleservices, International Gemmological Institute, Crisil, Kaynes Technology, IHCL, ITC Hotels and Balkrishna Industries were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.

52-week high

Among the ones which hit their 52-week highs on NSE included IHCL and PVR Inox.

Stocks seeing selling pressure

Stocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were KEI Industries, Jindal Saw, Cupid, Gallantt Metal, Swiggy, Zee Enterprises and Finolex Cables.

52-week low

Among the ones which hit their 52-week lows on NSE included Swiggy, Credit Access Grameen, Nava Bharat Vent., Commercial Engg, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, GRSE and M&M Financial.

Sentiment meter favours bears

Out of the 3,698 stocks that traded on the NSE on October 22, Thursday, 1,026 stocks witnessed advances, 2,512 stocks saw declines while 104 stocks remained unchanged.

Also read | Chinese stock market enters bear territory! CSI 300 index crashes 20% from June peak

Disclaimer: This article has been written by Debaroti Adhikary, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Debaroti Adhikary and his/her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimershere.