Markets witness choppy trading as realty, bank and auto indices drag

• India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 witnessed a see-saw movement in the first half of trading on Thursday.
  
• Realty, bank and auto sectors dragged the indices down, while FMCG and IT sectors advanced.
  
• SGX Nifty, an early indicator of how the markets may perform, was up 0.27% or 47 points early in the morning today.
  

India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 witnessed a see-saw movement in the first half of trading on Thursday. Realty, bank and auto sectors dragged the indices down, while FMCG and IT sectors advanced.

While the 30-stock Sensex was down 0.06% to 59,717 points, the 50-stock Nifty50 was down 0.09% to 17,549 points as at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Earlier on Wednesday, markets witnessed a rout with both Sensex and Nifty50 declining 1.53%. All the sectoral indices closed in the red, with metals, banks, IT and realty among the top losers.

Top gainers and losers on Nifty50

Top gainers	Change	Top losers	Change
ITC	2.36%	Adani Enterprises	-3.20%
UPL	1.58%	Asian Paints	-2.35%
Coal India	1.30%	IndusInd Bank	-2.27%
Hindalco	1.29%	Titan Company	-1.79%
TCS	1.06%	HDFC Life	-1.25%

Source: NSE, as at 1 p.m. on February 23, 2023
However, comments of two members of the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Jayant R Varma, and Ashima Goyal, could offer some comfort to the markets. Varma and Goyal both voted against RBI’s 25 basis point hike earlier in February, saying that any further hike would adversely affect India’s economic growth.

US markets mixed on fears of further rate hikes

Fear of further rate hikes led to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average declining – while S&P 500 closed 0.16% lower, Dow Jones fell 0.26%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, however, gained 0.13%.

The US Fed’s minutes from the January 31-February 1 meeting showed there were no surprises – the consensus among Fed officials was that the pace of rate hikes should be slowed down to 25 basis points. However, the minutes did outline the hawkish outlook of the central bank.

Asian markets were mixed on Thursday morning, with Taiwan Weighted gaining the most at 1.52%, followed by KOSPI at 1.25%. Hang Seng was up 0.64%, while Shanghai Composite gained 0.14%. Nikkei 225, however, fell 1.36%.

Stocks to watch

Biocon: Kotak Special Situations Fund have invested ₹1,070 crore in the biopharma major. The company plans to utilise the proceeds for financing its subsidiary Biocon Biologics acquisition of the biosimilars business of its partner Viatris.

Hero MotoCorp: The two wheeler maker has initiated operations of its public charging infrastructure in Bengaluru, Delhi and Jaipur. Vida, powered by Hero, has set up nearly 300 charging points at 50 locations across these three cities for public use.

Zee Entertainment: The bankruptcy court has admitted two of Essel Group’s listed companies Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Siti Network for insolvency proceedings, which will impact the merger process of Zee and Sony.

Orient Cement: The cement maker has terminated proposal to set up a cement grinding unit at Tiroda, Maharashtra with Adani Power Maharashtra.

Delhivery: Internet Fund III Pte, a fund managed by Tiger Global Management has sold 1.7% stake in the supply chain company for ₹414 crore through open market transactions.

Stocks in F&O ban

Vodafone Idea is the only company banned in the F&O segment today.

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