Sensex, Nifty50 edge lower in morning trade amidst a decline in IT, FMCG stocks

• India’s equity markets edged lower in morning trade on Wednesday amid mixed cues in global markets.
• While several sectoral indices were in the red on Wednesday morning, the IT and FMCG indices declined the most.
• SGX Nifty, an early indicator of how the markets may perform, was down 0.08% or 15 points early in the morning today.

India’s equity markets edged lower in morning trade on Wednesday amid mixed cues in global markets. While several sectoral indices were in the red on Wednesday morning, the IT and FMCG indices declined the most.

SGX Nifty, an early indicator of how the markets may perform, was down 0.08% or 15 points early in the morning today.

While the 30-stock Sensex was down 0.2% or 117 points to 59,610, the 50-stock Nifty50 was down 0.17% or 31 points to 17,629. The IT index was down 0.93%, followed by the FMCG index which fell 0.55%.

Top gainers and losers on Nifty50

Source: NSE, as on April 19, 2023

Earlier on Tuesday, Sensex and Nifty50 continued to snap amid selling pressure in energy, FMCG and financial services stocks. Both Sensex and Nifty50 ended 0.3% lower – while Sensex fell 184 points to close at 59,727, Nifty50 fell 47 points to 17,660.

Layoffs could once again gather steam with reports suggesting that US-based consulting giant Ernst & Young, and media behemoth Disney are expected to lay off thousands of employees.

Global markets mixed

Uncertainty persisted in markets around the world. Benchmark indices in the US ended on a mixed note on Tuesday, with Dow Jones falling 0.03% while S&P 500 gained 0.09%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended 0.04% lower.

Markets in Asia were also mixed on Wednesday morning, with KOSPI rising 0.12%, while Shanghai Composite and Taiwan Weighted were both down 0.3%. Nikkei 225 edged 0.24% lower, while Hang Seng was down 0.5%.

Stocks to watch

RIL, ONGC, Oil India: The government has reportedly increased the windfall tax on domestic crude oil production to ₹6,400 per tonne. Besides, the government has decided to remove the export duty on diesel.

State Bank of India: The largest public sector bank has approved long term fundraising of up to $2 billion in debt during FY24. The fundraising will happen in one or multiple tranches through a public offer or private placement of unsecured notes in US dollar or any other convertible currency.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance: The insurer has reported nearly 40% jump in net profit in March quarter at ₹436 crore compared to ₹312 crore last year.

Bank of India: The lender’s board has approved to raise ₹6,500 crore from various means including share sale to fund business growth in FY24.

CRISIL: The rating agency has reported a 20% rise in net profit at ₹145 crore in March quarter as against ₹121 crore during the same quarter last year.

Earnings today: Tata Communications, ICICI Securities, Alok Industries, Citadel Realty and Developers, G G Engineering, Gujarat Hotels among stocks to release their March quarter earnings today.

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