Bank of Japan’s silence hits Sensex

The equity markets plunged sharply on Thursday tracking deep losses in overseas equities after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) refrained from announcing any fresh stimulus measures and kept its interest rate steady, disappointing market expectation of more actions to boost economic growth.

After opening the day on a flat note, the Sensex slumped 461.02 points or 1.77 per cent to end the day at 25,603.10. The Nifty plunged 132.65 points or 1.66 per cent to end the day at 7847.25.

“Central bank action dominated global sentiment. While the Federal Reserve decided to keep policy rates unchanged along expected lines and signalled that it was concerned about the state of the US economy, the Bank of Japan disappointed market expectations by maintaining a status quo on the monetary policy and not announcing further stimulus measures for the Japanese economy,” said Shreyash Devalkar, fund manager, equities, BNP Paribas Financial Services.

“The earnings season so far has turned out to be good with companies in the IT sector and select few private sector banks reporting quarterly numbers in line with market expectations. India Inc’s Q4 numbers would act as a major trigger for the markets in the near term,” said Rikesh Parikh, VP, equities at Motilal Oswal Financial Services. ITC, HDFC, M&M and Maruti were the biggest losers among the Sensex firms.