Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Tuesday’s trading session in negative terrain as traders largely stayed on the sidelines ahead of US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee later in the day and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday for clues about the outlook for interest rates. Index opened lower and extended its losses in morning deals, as investors were cautious with provisional data from the NSE showing that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 564.06 crore on March 4. Traders overlooked a private report that inflation may decline for two years in a row. As per the report, inflation is likely to fall to 4.3 per cent in the financial year 2024-25 from 5.4 per cent in the financial year 2023-24.
In afternoon session, index trimmed most of its losses, as traders took some support with data showing that India's services activity continued to expand in February, with the HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the sector coming in at 60.6. At 60.6, the February services PMI is below the flash estimate of 62.0 released on February 22. It is, however, above the key level of 50, which separates expansion in activity from contraction, for the 31st month in a row. But, index unable to surpass neutral line and remained lower till the end, impacted by heavy selling in IT and other heavy weight stocks.
Traders were seen piling up positions in PSU Bank, Auto and Pharma stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, Media and FMCG. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Tata Chemicals, Samvardhana Motherson International and Vedanta. On the other hand, the top losers RBL Bank, Piramal Enterprises and Bajaj Finserv. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 22900 - 23100 calls and 20900 - 21100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
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