Sensex Falls 100 points, Nifty Below 19,800; HUDCO Falls 8%
The trading day on the Indian stock markets on Wednesday got off to a slow start as investors weighed geopolitical events and India Inc.’s September quarter earnings.
The Nifty50 index was lingering below the 19,800-point level while the S&P BSE Sensex lost 74 points in early trades to quote at 66,354.
On the BSE, the larger MidCap and SmallCap indexes saw increases of 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
The Nifty Financial Services index down 0.4% sectorally, followed by the Nifty Private Bank index (down 0.3%). The Nifty Media index increased by 0.7% on the positive side.
Housing Urban Development Corporation’s stock fell 8% when the government started selling its 7% ownership share via the offer for sale (OFS) process. It has offered 140 million shares in total, at a floor price of Rs 79 per share.
After reporting a 28% year-over-year (YoY) increase in consolidated net profit for Q2FY24 at Rs 3,551 crore, Bajaj Finance’s stock dipped 1.6%. To reach Rs 8,845 crore, Net Interest Income (NII) increased by 26% year over year.
external cues
Following an increase in Middle East tensions, Wednesday morning saw mixed results on the Asian markets. In the meanwhile, China’s Q3 GDP expanded by 4.9%, which was more than anticipated.
Key indexes in China, South Korea, and Japan all had declines in the 0.04 to 0.3% range. Hong Kong, however, had little change, while Australia reversed losses.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% overnight, the Nasdaq dropped 0.25, and the Dow Jones rose 0.4%.
The 10-year US Treasury yield surpassed 4.8%, rising to its highest level since October 6, as a result of stronger-than-expected US retail sales figures.
