Finance
The Sensex and Nifty closed with substantial losses on Wednesday, extending their losses for the second straight session amid conflicting global cues ahead of the US Fed policy conclusion, while US Treasury rates hovered near multi-year highs.
With crude oil prices increasing recently, the Fed is likely to hold rates unchanged today, but the risk of inflation remains.
Crude oil as a standard Brent Crude futures lost more than 1% in today’s session, dropping from a 10-month high, but they are still up about 30% in the last three months following OPEC+ supply cuts. Around 3:30 p.m., Brent Crude was trading near $93 per barrel.
When the Sensex closed, the UK’s FTSE, France’s CAC 40, and Germany’s DAX were all in the green. Today, investors anticipate the Fed’s policy decision. Several other central banks will make policy announcements this week.
“The Federal Reserve is expected to leave rates unchanged at the current range of between 5.25 per cent and 5.5 per cent when it concludes a two-day meeting. The Fed meeting leads a week jammed with central bank meetings, with policy announcements in Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Britain and Japan all due later in the week,” reported Reuters.
Stock market today
Market benchmarks took significant losses, with the majority of their constituents ending in the negative.
During the session, the Sensex slid 869 points to an intraday low of 66,728.14, while the Nifty fell 254 points to an intraday low of 19,878.85.
The Sensex finished 796 points, or 1.18 percent, lower at 66,800.84, while the Nifty finished below 20,000 at 19,901.40, down 232 points, or 1.15 percent.
HDFC Bank shares were the biggest drag on the Sensex, followed by Reliance Industries.
Midcaps and smallcaps also ended in the red, although they beat the Sensex. The BSE Midcap index fell 0.33 percent, while the Smallcap index fell 0.51 percent.
The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms fell to almost 320.6 lakh crore from 323 lakh crore the previous session, leaving investors nearly 2.4 lakh crore poorer in a single session.
Top Nifty gainers and losers today
As many as 39 stocks ended in the red in the Nifty index while the remaining 11 stocks managed to end higher.
Shares of HDFC Bank (down 3.87 per cent), JSW Steel (down 2.70 per cent) and Reliance Industries (down 2.29 per cent) ended as the top losers in the Nifty index.
On the other hand, shares of Power Grid Corporation of India (up 2.35 per cent), Coal India (up 1.12 per cent) and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (up 0.75 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the index.
Sectoral indices today
All sectoral indices ended with losses. Nifty Bank fell 1.29 per cent while the Nifty Private Bank index ended 1.20 per cent lower and the Nifty PSU Bank index closed with a loss of 1.18 per cent.
Nifty Financial Services, Metal and Realty indices also closed over a per cent lower.
