Sensex, Nifty50 decline after hawkish US Fed chair commentary; RIL, ICICI Bank, TCS among losers

• The Sensex closed 0.90% lower at 59,806 while the Nifty50 ended 0.93% lower at 17,589.
• This comes after US Fed chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish commentary pointed at further rate hikes.
• Losses in heavyweights including Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and TCS pushed the indices lower.

India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 closed lower on Thursday with heavy selling in all sectors except metals. Losses in heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services pushed the indices lower.

The Sensex closed 0.90% or 542 points lower at 59,806 while the Nifty50 ended 0.93% or 164 points lower at 17,589.

This comes after US Fed chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish commentary pointed at further rate hikes.

“Selling pressure came to the fore after 3 days of relief rally, as US Fed signalling further rate hike to tame inflation reignited worries of slowing growth. Also, the rising bond yields in the last few sessions are indicating that risk-off sentiment in equities will prevail going ahead and liquidity could tighten,” said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research (retail), at Kotak Securities.

Adani Enterprises was the biggest loser on the Nifty50 index – falling after six consecutive sessions of gains – as CARE Ratings downgraded the outlook on the company to negative from stable considering the ongoing regulatory and legal scrutiny.

Among other top losing stocks, heavyweights ICICI Bank dropped 1.8% and TCS slipped 1.69%.

Meanwhile, metal stocks rose amid reports of signs of recovery in China with that country’s manufacturing PMI rising to an 11-year high.

Top losers	Change	Top gainers	Change
Adani Enterprises	-4.82%	Tata Steel	1.60%
M&M	-3.47%	L&T	1.02%
SBI Life Insurance	-2.81%	Apollo Hospitals	0.82%
Reliance Industries	-2.37%	Bharti Airtel	0.78%
Adani Ports & SEZ	-2.24%	Cipla	0.60%

Source: NSE, March 9, 2023

Hawkish Powell hints at further rate hikes
US Fed chair Jerome Powell hinted at further rate hikes in his congressional testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday. Key data points like CPI inflation numbers due to release next week will be in focus.

Reacting to Powell’s comments, US markets closed on a mixed note, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average declining 0.18%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.14%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 0.4% higher.

Asian markets were more mixed on Thursday, with Hang Seng losing 0.63%, Taiwan Weighted down 0.30%, Shanghai Composite down 0.22% while the Nikkei 225 gained 0.63%.

The Rupee fell 7 paise to close at 82.02 against the US dollar on Thursday. Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth ₹3,671 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth ₹937 crore.

Indian sectoral indices	% change
Nifty Auto	-1.83%
Nifty Realty	-1.17%
Nifty PSU Bank	-1.13%
Nifty IT	-1.08%
Nifty FMCG	-1.01%
Nifty Media	-0.82%
Nifty Pvt Bank	-0.80%
Nifty Bank	-0.77%
Nifty Fin Service	-0.75%
Nifty Pharma	-0.42%
Nifty Metal	0.06%

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