Bearish run, Sensex drops by 793 pts, amid Q4 results countdown

The domestic equity market indices ended on a weak note on Friday, tracking subdued global market cues and ahead of the beginning of the Q4 earnings season with TCS slated to post March quarter earnings later today.At close, the Sensex was down 793.25 points or 1.06 percent at 74,244.90, and the Nifty was down 234.40 points or 1.03 percent at 22,519.40. About 1305 shares advanced, 1988 shares declined, and 68 shares unchanged.
Highlights from trade:
 ●TCS Q4 results today; stock trades marginally lower ,
 ●Gold tops Rs 72,000 for first time; silver above Rs 84,000 ,
 ●Vodafone Idea to launch Rs 18,000 crore FPO on April 18
 ●JM Financial initiates coverage on Bharti Hexacom with Buy,
 ●Goldman Sachs initiates coverage on CreditAccess Grameen with Buy,
 ●Bharti Hexacom shares list at a premium of 32%
Divis Labs, Tata Consumer Products, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and TCS were the biggest gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid Corporation, Titan Company and ONGC.
On the sectoral front,all the sectoral indices ended in the red with bank, healthcare, FMCG, Media, realty, oil & gas down 1 percent each.BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell 0.5 percent each.
Rupee Close:
On 12 April'24,the Indian rupee depreciated 13 paise to close at 83.44 against the US dollar on Friday, weighed down by a massive sell-off in domestic equities and a strong greenback against major crosses overseas.Forex traders said elevated crude oil prices also dented investor sentiments.
Trading Guide:
Market experts have recommended seven shares to buy today — Infosys, Tata Consumer, NHPC, BF Utilities, Sarda Energy, UPL, and CLEAN.

(Writer is a Finance Research Analyst, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat)