Stock Market Today: Sensex Falls Over 100 Points In Early Trade, Nifty Below 16,600

The Indian equities benchmark opened at a flat note on Wednesday as indicated by the SGX index. At 9:18 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 102 points or 0.19 per cent lower at 52,615, whereas the NSE Nifty 50 index declined 13 points or 0.09 per cent at 15,695, ahead of the crucial US Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed is likely to hike the repo rate by 75 basis points to tame inflation. 

Amongst the broader indices, Nifty Midcap 50 index surged 0.54 per cent at 7,384, whereas the Nifty Midcap 100 index advanced 0.57 per cent at 26,867. Barring the stocks of financial services, FMCG, metal, and oil and gas, all other sectoral indices witnessed buying in early trade with gains in media and auto stocks. 

Amongst the NSE listed companies, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra and Mahindra, and Grasim were the top gainers, whereas Reliance Industries, HDFC, Britannia, Hindustan Unilever, and Bharti Airtel were the top losers. Amongst the BSE-listed companies, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bajaj twins, State Bank Of India, Maruti, PowerGrid, and Wipro were the top gainers whereas Hindustan Unilever, HDFC twins, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Nestle and Titan were the top losers. 

Meanwhile, the major indices in Asia were trading on a cautious note on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.59 per cent, whereas South Korea’s KOSPI slumped 1.08 per cent. Hang Seng index advanced 0.94 per cent. While China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.69 per cent, Shenzhen Component was trading higher at 0.97 per cent. 

Notably, the major indices in the US were trading lower on Tuesday as the fear of a more repo rate hike by the Federal Reserve to tame inflation gripped investors’ sentiments. The S&P 500 fell 14.15 points or 0.4 per cent to 3,735, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 151.91 points or 0.5 per cent to 30,364. However, the Nasdaq Composite rose 19.12 points or 0.2 per cent to 10,828 following gains in technology stocks. 

Back home, the foreign institutional investors (FII) continued to remain the net sellers worth Rs 4,502 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors (DII) remained the net buyers worth Rs 3,807 crore on Tuesday. The Indian Rupee witnessed a marginal recovery of 1 paise to close at 78.03 against US Dollars amid a weak greenback overseas. 

Crude oil prices dropped in the early hours on Wednesday. The West Texas Intermediate Futures slipped 8 cents or 0.1 per cent t0 $118.85 per barrel by 0008 GMT, whereas Brent crude futures fell 26 cents or 0.2 per cent to $120.91 per barrel. 

Airtel, NTPC, UPL, Asian Paint, Yes Bank, IDBI Bank, IIFL Wealth Management and PNB Housing Finance are the stocks that will remain in focus on Wednesday.