Sensex Falls Over 200 Points, Stalling An 8-Day Winning Streak

Indian equity benchmarks fell early on Friday, stalling an eight-day winning streak as investors awaited US payroll data due to be released later in the day to assess further indications of a change in the Federal Reserve's rate hike plans.

The BSE Sensex index fell 248.71 points to 63,035.48 in early trade and the broader NSE Nifty opening lower in early trade, reflecting the sea of red in other Asian indices.

Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, and Nestle were the major laggards among the Sensex pack.

The winners were Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, and ITC.

"Markets will likely consolidate and drift lower in early trades Friday owing to weak Asian market cues. On daily charts, the market is in an overbought technical condition and continues to ignore the US bond market's recession warning," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior Vice President for Research at Mehta Equities.

"Investors worldwide will closely watch today's highly-anticipated US November jobs report," he added.

In the previous session, both benchmarks had closed at a record high for the sixth straight day and marked eight days of gains in a row.

The record-breaking spree started on Friday last week, with the Sensex and Nifty closing at new highs every day since.

In November, both benchmarks have closed at an all-time high for a total of eight days.

While Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned net sellers as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,565.93 crore on Thursday, capital inflows have been robust in November as the Federal Reserve has hinted at tapering the pace of its aggressive rate hikes.

"Fed Chief Jerome Powell's observation that 'it makes sense to moderate the pace of rate hikes has come as a shot in the arm for the bulls to take the ongoing rally forward," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, told PTI.

But the bulls were tempered on Friday ahead US non-farm payrolls data, scheduled to be released later in the day, after Wall Street equities closed mostly lower overnight on Thursday.