Seventh consecutive weekly loss for Indian equity markets

Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed with weekly losses of 7.4 per cent and 6.7 per cent for the week ended Friday. This was the seventh consecutive weekly loss that the indices registered.

At the index level, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Maruti fell by 28 per cent, 21 per cent, 19 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively for the week. Though, consumption heavyweight ITC closed higher by 13.10 per cent for the week. Other gainers were Coal India, Sun Pharma, ONGC and RIL that closed higher by 12 per cent, 11 per cent, 7.7 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

On Friday, Sensex fell by 2.1 per cent to end at 27,674 and Nifty ended at 8,083, down 2.1 per cent. The broader indices-BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap ended down by 1.17 per cent and 1.03 per cent each on Friday.

COVID-19 related cases saw a sharp jump over the week to break 2,000 in numbers across the country. The street continued to face the heat due to the looming uncertainty over further extension of lockdown in the country.

In another measure to curb the volatility, RBI released a press note, where it revised trading hours for debt and currency markets. The trading time of market repo in government securities, commercial papers, foreign currency trades and rupee has been revised from 10 am to 2 pm, which will be effective from April 7 and continue up to April 17.