Sensex, Nifty50 end lower weighed down by a selloff in Bajaj twins, heavyweight ICICI Bank, Infosys

• Indian benchmark indices ended lower on Thursday weighed down by a selloff in Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and other heavyweights like ICICI Bank and Infosys despite positive cues from global markets.
• Bajaj Finance was the top loser on the benchmark indices as it plunged over 7% after the announcement of its December quarter business update.
• Markets around the world gained after the release of US Fed minutes.

Indian benchmark indices ended lower on Thursday weighed down by a selloff in Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and other heavyweights like ICICI Bank and Infosys despite positive cues from global markets.

The 30-stock index Sensex closed 0.50% or 304 points lower at 60,353 while the 50-stock index Nifty50 ended down 0.28% or 50 points lower at 17,992.

“Nifty fell for the second consecutive session on January 5, though it recovered smartly from intra day lows post 1:30 p.m. At close Nifty was down 0.28% or 50.8 points at 17992.2. Volumes on the NSE are rising gradually as people return to work after holidays,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.

Here are the top gainers and losers on Nifty50 on Thursday

Among sectoral indices, except bank, IT and financial service all other sectors were trading in green.

On the other hand, rupee appreciated against the US dollar on Wednesday with a gain of 32 paise to close at 82.5.

Bajaj twins weighed down on indices
Shares of Bajaj Finance was the top loser on the benchmark indices as it plunged over 7% after the announcement of its December quarter business updates that disappointed analysts on lower than expected growth in assets under management (AUM).

The financial services company reported an AUM growth of 27% on year and 6% on a sequential basis at ₹2.31 lakh crore.

“Q3 AUM growth was nearly 200 basis points lower than our estimate of 7.5% QoQ. Q3 is usually a strong quarter due to festivals, so either there was some impact at the end of Q2 or the company lost some market share,” said a report by global brokerage CLSA.

CLSA recommended a ‘Sell’ rating on the company saying loan growth slowed despite a festive season, which is otherwise a strong period owing to festivities.

Following this, shares of Bajaj Finserv, a parent company of Bajaj Finance, also dropped sharply by over 5%.

Besides, the fall in crude oil prices on concerns of a recession in the global economy and the spread of Covid in China pared some losses. Brent crude oil prices fell below the $80 mark and were hovering around $79.81 per barrel on Thursday.

Meanwhile, markets around the world were in the green after the US Fed’s minutes were released on Wednesday, wherein officials stressed on the need to maintain flexibility while still focusing on inflation.

US Fed emphasizes on the need to retain ‘flexibility’
Investors across the globe took some support from the US Fed minutes released on Wednesday, where the officials agreed that the central bank should slow the pace of its aggressive interest rates increase while controlling inflation. While the commentary seemed positive, the Fed still has its focus on controlling inflation.

“Most participants emphasised the need to retain flexibility and optionality when moving the policy to a more restrictive stance,” the Fed minutes said.

Both foreign institutional investors (FII) and domestic institutional investors (DII) were net sellers on Thursday pulling out ₹1,449 crore and ₹194 crore respectively.

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