Sensex, Nifty50 plummet as inflation worries stoke rate hike fears

• India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 plummeted in the first half of trading on Wednesday amid a decline in markets globally as investors price in more rate hikes by the US Fed.
• All the core sectors except pharma were in the red on Wednesday, with the metals, realty, IT and banking sectors falling the most.
• Rising geopolitical tensions also contributed to the decline, after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to resume nuclear tests.

India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 plummeted in the first half of trading on Wednesday amid a decline in markets globally as investors price in more rate hikes by the US Fed. SGX Nifty, an early indicator of how the markets may perform, was down 0.4% or 71 points early in the morning today.

All the core sectors except pharma were in the red on Wednesday, with the metals, realty, IT and banking sectors falling the most.

While the 30-stock Sensex was down 0.87% or 526 points to 60,147, the 50-stock Nifty50 was down 0.89% or 159 points to 17,668 as of 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Top gainers and losers on Nifty50

Top gainers	Change	Top losers	Change2
Bajaj Auto	0.87%	Adani Enterprises	-8.49%
Divi's Labs	0.47%	Adani Ports & SEZ	-3.72%
Britannia	0.22%	Bajaj Finance	-2.07%
Hindalco	0.25%	JSW Steel	-1.95%
Dr. Reddy's Labs	0.25%	Grasim Industries	-1.83%

Source: NSE, as at 11:30 a.m., February 22, 2023

Earlier on Tuesday, markets closed lower after a choppy session once again, led by a drag in banking, realty and IT stocks. The 30-stock Sensex ended 0.03% or 19 points lower at 60,673 while the 50-stock Nifty50 closed 0.1% or 18 points down at 17,827, underlining the sideway movement of the markets.
Markets see red globally

Prospects of further rate hikes by the US Fed have resulted in a decline in markets around the world. In the US, specifically, Wall Street registered its worst day in 2023 so far. Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2.06% while S&P 500 fell 2%, with weak forecasts from major US retailers adding to the negative undertones. The tech-heavy Nasdaq witnessed a worse decline at 2.58%.

Asian markets were largely in the red, too, on Wednesday. Nikkei 225 declined the most at 1.32%, followed closely by KOSPI at 1.25%. Taiwan Weighted fell 1.09% amidst rising fears of adversities with China. Shanghai Composite was down 0.24%, while Hang Seng rose 0.19%.

Stocks to watch

Adani Transmission: Reports say the company will announce debt refinancing plans in a few weeks. The Group had reportedly hired banks to arrange calls with bond investors after it was caught up in a crisis post Hindenburg Research report.

Wipro: The IT major has cut down salary offers to freshers amid delay in onboarding. Wipro emailed candidates with a package of ₹6.5 lakh per annum to join at ₹3.5 lakh per annum, says reports.

HDFC Bank: The lender is reportedly planning to sell dollar bonds to support its plans to expand lending outside India and tapping opportunities in overseas markets. It is likely to raise $500 million by selling five year bonds.

IRCTC: The ticketing arm of Indian railways will trade ex-dividend today with respect to ₹3.5 dividend announced in the Q3.

Bharat Electronics: The company has signed an MoU with Aeronautical Development Agency, DRDO for the advanced medium combat aircraft (Amca) programme. The aircraft is a 5th generation, multi-role, all-weather fighter aircraft designed with high survivability and stealth capability.

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