Stock Market Today: Sensex Falls Over 300 Points In Early Trade, Nifty Below 16,300

The Indian equities benchmark opened lower on Thursday as indicated by the SGX index. At 9:18 am, the BSE Sensex was down 299 points or 0.55 at 54,602, whereas the Nifty 50 index plunged 99 points or 0.61 per cent at 16,256 even as the key repo rate was hiked by 50 basis points to 4.9 per cent to tame inflation. 

Of the broader indices, Nifty Midcap 50 slipped 0.51 per cent at 7,566, whereas the Nifty Midcap 100 plunged 0.35 per cent at 27,574. Barring the stocks of pharma and oil and gas, all other indices were trading in the red. 

Amongst the Nifty 50 companies, ONGC, Dr. Reddy, Bajaj Auto, Coal India, and Reliance Industries were the top gainers, whereas Asian Paint, Shree Cement Limited, Britannia, Grasim, and TCS were the top losers. Amongst the BSE-listed companies, Dr. Reddy, Reliance Industries NTPC, Sun Pharma, and Tech Mahindra were the only gainers, whereas Asian Paint, HCL Technologies, Nestle India, TCS, Titan Bajaj Twins, Kotak Bank, and HDFC twins were the top losers. 

The major indices in Asia were trading lower on Thursday. The MSCI broader index of Asia Pacific plunged 0.56 per cent. The Hang Seng index slipped 0.06 per cent, whereas South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 0.63 per cent. While Shanghai Composite declined 0.19 per cent, the Shenzhen Component slipped 0.61 per cent. However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.20 per cent.  

Meanwhile, stocks in the US declined on Wednesday as the fear of inflation gripped investors’ sentiments. The S&P 500 fell 44.91 points or 1.1 per cent to 4,115, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 269 points or 0.8 per cent to 32,910. The Nasdaq Composite index was trading 88.96 points or 0.7 per cent lower at 12,086. 

Back home, the foreign institutional investors (FII) remained the net sellers worth Rs 2,484 crore whereas the domestic institutional investors (DII) remained the net buyers worth Rs 1,904 crore on Wednesday. The Indian Rupee advanced 10 paise to settle at 77.68 against the US Dollars.  

Notably, the crude oil prices surged to a 13-week high in the early hours on Thursday. The Brent crude futures for August surged 12 cents to $123.70, whereas the US West Texas Intermediate crude for July advanced 6 cents to $122 per barrel by 0033 GMT. 

Wipro, Vedanta, Indian Oil Corporation, Yes Bank Tata Power, and Rail Vikas Nigam are the stocks that will remain in focus on Thursday.