Stock Market Today: Nifty and Sensex end Wednesday with over 0.50% loss
|- India’s Nifty and Sensex ended in the negative territory on Wednesday.
- Nifty corrected from an all-time high above 22,200, Sensex failed to sustain above 73,000.
- Nifty and Sensex traders eye Nvidia earnings report, Fed and RBI Minutes for fresh trading incentives.
The Sensex 30 and Nifty 50, India’s key benchmark indices, settled in the negative territory on Wednesday, having witnessed a tug-of-war between bulls and bears almost throughout the trading session.
Mixed trading in global stocks and unnerved markets ahead of the Minutes of the US Federal Reserve, Nvidia’s earning report and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy meetings kept investors on edge.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 lost 0.65% on the day to finish at 22,055.05 while the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex 30 closed at 72,623.09, down 0.59%.
Stock market news
- India's benchmark indices snapped their six-day winning momentum in Wednesday’s trading, as sellers returned in the late trading amid a sharp decline in the IT, pharma and financial sector shares.
- Top gainers on Nifty included Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SBI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Tata Consumer Products. Meanwhile, Powergrid, NTPC, Wipro, Coal India and BPCL emerged as the main laggards.
- Among the corporate news, shares of Zee Entertainment eroded nearly 15% after a Bloomberg report revealed an accounting issue of over INR20 billion ($241.36 million) in the company’s accounts.
- Maruti Suzuki India got an inquiry from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.
- Paytm shares continued to hit the upper circuit after falling at record lows.
- World Bank and others issued offshore India rupee bonds as demand soars.
- The US stock markets settled lower on Tuesday, as traders returned from the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday.
- People’s Bank of China (PBoC) cut the five-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) by a record 25 bps from 4.20% to 3.95%. The PBOC rate cut failed to excite traders on Tuesday.
- India’s trade data for January showed last week a shrinking Trade Deficit of $17.49 billion.
- US Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data came in hotter-than-expected and helped push back the market’s expectations of a Fed rate cut from March to June. Markets are currently pricing a 77% chance of a cut in June, the CME Group’s Fed Watch Tool shows.
- Attention now turns toward the Minutes of the Fed January meeting and American tech major Nvidia Earnings report due on Wednesday, as the Indian economic calendar remains devoid of any top-tier data release until Thursday’s RBI Minutes.
Nifty 50 FAQs
What is the Nifty 50?
The Nifty 50, or simply Nifty, is the most commonly followed stock index in India. It was launched in 1996 by the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). It plots the weighted average share price of 50 of the largest Indian corporations, offering investors comprehensive exposure to 13 sectors of the economy. Each corporation's weighting is based on its “free-float capitalization”, or the value of all its shares readily available for trading.
What factors drive the Nifty 50?
The Nifty is a composite so its value is dependent on the performance of the companies that make up the index, as revealed in their quarterly and annual results. Another factor is government policies, such as when in 2016 the government decided to demonetize 500 and 1000 Rupee banknotes. This led to a temporary cash shortage which negatively impacted the Nifty. The level of interest rates set by the Reserve Bank of India is a further factor as it determines the cost of borrowing. Climate change, pandemics and natural disasters are also drivers.
What are the key milestones for the Nifty 50?
The Nifty 50 was launched on April 22, 1996 at a base level of 1,000. Its highest recorded level to date is 22,097 achieved on January 15, 2024 (this is being written in Feb 2024). The index first closed above the 10,000 level on October 17, 2017. The Nifty recorded its biggest daily decline on March 23, 2020 during the Covid pandemic, when it fell 1,125 points or 12.37%. The Nifty’s biggest gain in a single day occurred on May 18, 2009, when it rose 651 points after the results of the Indian elections.
What are some of the major companies in the Nifty 50?
Major corporations in the Nifty 50 include HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen and Toubro, ITC Ltd, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd and Kotak Mahendra Bank.
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