Indian equity benchmarks extend weekly losing streak

Indian equity benchmarks managed to close in green for the first time in a week but continued its string of weekly losses. On Friday, Sensex rose 0.63 percent to close at 36,701.16 and Nifty gained 0.82 percent to settle at 10,829.35. On a weekly basis, the Sensex ended with losses of 1.73 per cent while the Nifty ended down by 1.98 per cent.

The market sentiments were driven by reports that government may soon roll back super-rich tax on foreign investors, announced in the Budget last month. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a press briefing on Friday evening and there are speculations that the government would announce steps to revive economic growth.

The week saw major sell-off in domestic markets with no respite from the global markets too. The US benchmarks faced selling pressure due to fears of recession in near future. On domestic front, Yes Bank suffered further losses due to alleged financial fraud in CG Power, in which the private lender holds 13 per cent stake. The shares of corporate lender closed down by 26 per cent since last week at Rs. 59.25.

Going ahead, market are set to take positive cues on account of decision from government to withdraw the FPI surcharge.