The Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade lower in noon deals on Monday dragged by losses in index heavyweights like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro and HCL Technologies amid mixed global cues. The Sensex fell as much as 378 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 16,200.
Asian markets were trading mixed as investors braced for a U.S. inflation report that could force another super-sized hike in interest rates, and the start of an earnings season in which profits could be under pressure.
An upbeat U.S. June payrolls report already has the market wagering heavily on a rise of 75 basis points from the Federal Reserve, sending bond yields and the dollar higher.
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Japan's Nikkei rose 0.9 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.25 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI advanced 0.1 per cent and Taiwan Weighted fell 0.6 per cent.
As of 12:36 pm, the Sensex fell 348 points to 54,134 and Nifty 50 index declined 96 points to 16,125.
Six of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty IT index's over 3 per cent dragged by TCS after its June quarter earnings failed to enthuse investors.
The country's largest IT company on Friday reported a 5.2 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 9,478 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.
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The consolidated revenue from operations increased 16.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 52,758 crore in the first quarter of FY23.
Select pharma, metal, media and consumer durable stocks were facing a mild selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap were trading on a flat note as Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 0.02 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.08 per cent.
Bharti Airtel was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 4.6 per cent to Rs 663 after Adani Group made surprise entry to acquire fifth-generation or 5G telecom services rights.
TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Hindalco, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Ultratech Cement, Shree Cements and Grasim Industries were also among the losers.
On the flipside, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, ONGC, Eicher Motors, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Consumer Products and Adani Ports were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,427 shares were declining while 1,234 were advancing on the BSE.
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