Weekly Market Wrap: D street ended first week of 2024 in red amid sluggish global cues. What lies ahead?

The first week of 2024 in the Stock Market ended marginally in the negative, as concerns over potential disruptions in the Red Sea raised concerns of immediate threat to the global supply chains and freight cost. Additionally, the downturn in India's eight vital industries to a six-month low of 7.8 per cent in November 2023, driven by falling outputs in the crude oil and cement sectors, contributed to the BSE Sensex's 214 point, or 0.3 per cent, drop to 72,026 by the week ending January 5, 2024. Similarly, the Nifty decreased by 21 points, or 0.1 per cent, falling to 21,711. Looking at sectors, the BSE Realty index had the greatest surge of 7.9 per cent during the week. Concurrently, BSE Power and BSE Healthcare indices saw gains of 3.4 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively, while BSE Metal index fell by 1.9 per cent. A total of 24 stocks in the Nifty 50 index saw a positive return for investors, with Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone having the highest increase of 12.7 per cent. They were followed by increases from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (5.5 per cent), Bajaj Finance (5.2 per cent), Tata Consumer Products (3.3 per cent), and Cipla (3.2 per cent). Meanwhile, Eicher Motors, JSW Steel, and Shree Cement all saw declines of 6.4 per cent, 5.8 per cent, and 5.6 per cent respectively. The week had started strong with hopes of future rates cuts, reduced global inflation, and lower bond yields, says Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. However, marginal performance in China and the Eurozone's manufacturing sector getting hit, and Red Sea tensions resulted in a static market close. Nair attributes the anticipation of dull future earnings season and global concerns for the poor performance of IT and Auto sectors throughout the week. Despite this, mid and small cap segments held firm because of strong retail inflows. Nair also pointed out that the realty sector was the top performer, driven by forecasts of solid demand and positive housing loan disbursement data shared by banks. Also read: