Sensex, Nifty trade flat with volatility amid selling in IT, Teck stocks

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly negative start on Wednesday tracking weak global cues. Soon Sensex and Nifty turned volatile and were trading flat in early deals ahead of Q3 earnings from some blue-chip companies such as Trent, Tata Power, Apollo Tyres, Cummins India, Bajaj Finserv, Hexaware Technologies, Force Motors, and JSW Cement etc. market participants avoided taking long positions ahead of the Reserve Bank's three-day brainstorming, staring today, for the next bi-monthly monetary policy in the backdrop of growth-focused Union Budget, low inflation and more recently the long-awaited India-US trade deal ending prolonged uncertainty on the external front. However, some support came amid foreign fund inflows. The exchange data showed that Foreign Institutional Investors took a U-turn from selling and purchased equities worth Rs 5,236.28 crore on Tuesday. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, amid tumbling technology stocks which mirrored their peer on the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Back home, IT stocks traded under pressure after a sharp decline in the technology stocks on Wall Street traders remained concerned with report that new artificial intelligence tools could disrupt established software and tech companies, eroding their pricing power and future profits.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83675.45, down by 63.68 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 83119.95 and 83867.38. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.66%, Energy up by 1.47%, Power up by 1.44%, Metal up by 1.21% and Auto up by 1.18%, while IT down by 4.95%, TECK down by 3.42%, Realty down by 0.30% and Healthcare down by 0.07% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.72%, Power Grid up by 1.41%, NTPC up by 1.38%, ICICI Bank up by 1.33% and Reliance Industries up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 5.83%, TCS down by 5.12%, HCL Technologies down by 4.88%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.56% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after US President Donald Trump's decision to slash tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has expressed optimism that this move is a positive development for India as it will boost exports along with having found new markets where they will continue to operate. 

On Monday, Trump agreed to slash US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent in exchange for India lowering trade barriers as well as stopping its purchases of Russian oil and instead buying oil from the US and potentially Venezuela. On implementation, the deal would bring tariffs on India in line with most other Asian countries of around 15-19 per cent.

Sitharaman said while the details of the agreement will be announced soon, the cut in tariffs is a ‘good auguring’ for exporters. She said taken together with the new markets exporters had tapped after becoming uncompetitive in the US, the ‘exports will pick up now’.

Trump's steep tariffs last year dented Indian exports by raising landed costs, squeezing exporter margins, and eroding competitiveness in the American market. Sectors such as steel, aluminium, textiles, engineering goods and some agricultural products were hit as higher duties led US buyers to shift orders to alternative suppliers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25729.75, up by 2.20 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 25563.95 and 25790.15. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.00%, Coal India up by 1.94%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.69%, JIO Financial Services up by 1.55% and Power Grid up by 1.43%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 5.92%, TCS down by 5.21%, HCL Technologies down by 4.97%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.57% and Wipro down by 3.91% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 386.66 points or 0.71% to 54,334.00, Hang Seng declined 115.77 points or 0.43% to 26,719.00, Jakarta Composite fell 63.6 points or 0.78% to 8,059.00 and Shanghai Composite weakened 0.07 points to 4,067.67. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted rose 121.72 points or 0.38% to 32,317.08, KOSPI increased 41.86 points or 0.79% to 5,329.94 and Straits Times was up by 7.24 points or 0.15% to 4,951.33.