FPI buying fails to soothe edgy Street

Weak global cues and persistent risk aversion weighed on domestic stocks, dragging benchmark indices down on Friday and over the week.

- Mayur Bhalerao & Abhinaba Saha

The Nifty 50 ended 1.5% at lower 25,178.65, while BSE Sensex closed 1.8% down at 81,287.19 for the week. Both indices tumbled about 1.2% on Friday.

Market sentiment this week was largely shaped by the latest developments in artificial intelligence, which participants viewed as disruptive, according to Narender Singh, smallcase manager and founder at Growth Investing.

Additionally, the sharp selloff in global technology stocks triggered by weaker-than-expected earnings in Nvidia and Block's announcement of around 4,000 layoffs further tightened risk appetite, he said.

Singh noted that near-term sentiment has turned distinctly negative, leading to sustained pressure in IT and technology stocks. Both these sectors have lost nearly 14-18% in February, emerging as the worst performers this week. Realty led the laggards, falling nearly 4% since last week.

Meanwhile, safe-haven flows into precious metals and firmer crude prices amid renewed volatility in the US-Iran equation buoyed metal and oil & gas stocks, said experts. Both sectors emerged as the week's top performers.