The key benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty opened in deep red on Thursday with Nifty below amid weak global cues as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s signal rate hike in March policy meeting.
At 09:16 IST, the Sensex was down 989.82 points or 1.71 per cent at 56868.33, and the Nifty was down 291.30 points or 1.69 per cent at 16986.70. About 603 shares have advanced, 1524 shares declined, and 99 shares are unchanged.
In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were also in red and were down up to 1.6 per cent.
All Sensex-30 shares were trading in the negative territory barring Axis Bank, Maruti and IndusInd Bank. Titan, Wipro, Tech M, HDFC twins, Infosys, Nestle, Dr Reddy’s, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, Bajaj twins, TCS and Ultratech Cement were the top losers, down 2-3 per cent.
On the Nifty, ONGC was the sole gainer, up 2 per cent. Meanwhile, Grasim, Eicher Motors and Divis Labs were the additional losers.
In the primary market, the Adani Group joint venture-Adani Wilmar IPO will open for subscription. The company has raised 940 Rs crores from anchor investors. It plans to raise up to Rs 3,600 crore by way of the fresh issue of equity shares. The price band is fixed at Rs 218- 230.
Global cues
Elsewhere, Asian shares fell to their lowest in more than 14 months, short-term US yields rose to 23-month highs and the dollar strengthened on Thursday after the Federal Reserve’s chairman signaled plans to steadily tighten policy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and Australian shares fell 2 per cent and Chinese blue-chips were 0.2 per cent lower. In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell 1.9 per cent, touching its lowest point since December 2020.
Overnight in the US, the key benchmark indices wiped-out solid gains in late trade soon after the US Federal Reserve released the policy minutes.
The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 ended 0.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent lower at 34,168 and 4,350, respectively, as against the day’s high of 34,816 and 4,453, respectively. Similarly, Nasdaq erased more than 450 points from the day’s high, to end almost unchanged at 13,542.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell on Thursday as investors cashed in profits from the 2 per cent gains in the previous session after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated an interest rate hike in March, leading to a technical correction in surging energy markets.
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Source: News18