Market Displays Caution; Buying In Banks, Sharp Fall In IT Ahead Of Fed Policy
In the Nifty 50 index, merely 19 stocks advance in the positive territory and 30 stocks end in the red territory, while Eicher Motors ends flat
The Indian stock market displayed nervousness in the Wednesday trading session as the Fed stance on the interest rate cut is scheduled for tonight. Ahead of the Fed meet, the IT index met with a huge sell-off. However, buying in Banks kept the market away from a huge fall.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 index 0.16 per cent lower at 25,377, while the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex also settled 131 points or 0.16 per cent lower at 82,948 levels on the closing bell.
Nifty Moves
In the Nifty 50 index, merely 19 stocks advanced in the positive territory and 30 stocks ended in the red territory, while Eicher Motors ended flat.
Among the winners Shriram Finance topped the index with more than 4 per cent gain followed by 3.61 per cent gain in Bajaj Finance and 2.14 per cent gain in Bajaj Finserv. Nestle India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI Life and SBI ended more than 1 per cent higher.
Among the laggards, Tatat Motors plummeted 1.36 per cent, while Eicher Motors lost 1 per cent. Adani Ports, Coal India and Tata Steel also lost nearly 1 per cent.
Analyst Note
“Mixed signals from global markets emerged ahead of the anticipated FOMC rate cut decision which is seemingly priced in a 25 basis points cut. Investors assessed the potential for a short-term underperformance of equity given the elevated valuation and correction of metal prices. Commodities, including oil prices, are steadily declining, suggesting a potential tempering of economic growth. Investor caution is evident as gold prices rise, likely due to anticipated dollar weakness following the rate cut,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Investors turned cautious ahead of the US Fed policy rate meeting later in the day, as domestic benchmark indices faltered in late trades after scaling fresh highs in early trades due to heavy profit-taking in technology stocks. Barring banking and financial stocks, other sectoral stocks eased as several of them had rallied sharply in recent weeks,” said PFB the market wrap by Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.
Sectoral Movement
In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty Bank and Financial Services ended with 1.08 per cent and 1.4 per cent gain respectively, while PSU Banks ended flat.
IT fell sharply with 3 per cent loss followed by 1.5 per cent dip in Pharma. Auto, Metals, FMCG and Realty also ended with loss.
The more domestically focussed indices, Mid-cap shredded 0.71 per cent, whereas Small-cap dipped 0.39 per cent.
