Sensex Drops 350 pts, Nifty Around 17,100; Bajaj Finance Tumbles 5%

Tracking global weakness, the domestic benchmark indices started trade lower on Wednesday. The Sensex was down 366.36 points or 0.64 per cent at 56990.25, and the Nifty was down 125.60 points or 0.73 per cent at 17075.20. About 850 shares have advanced, 2049 shares declined, and 88 shares are unchanged.

Among the Sensex-30 shares, Bajaj twins, L&T, Ultratech Cement, Maruti, M&M, Infosys, Axis Bank, ITC and Wipro, meanwhile, were the top laggards, slipping up to 4 per cent. On the other side, NTPC, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, HDFC Life, Hindalco, Adani Ports were the top benchmark gainers.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices also opened in red down up to 0.24 per cent. Sectorally, Nifty IT, Financials, Bank and Auto led losses, falling up to 1 per cent. Nifty Metal index was the only one in green.

Among stocks, Mahindra Logistics surged 10 per cent. The company posted a 2.8 per cent decline in Q4FY22 net profit at Rs 12.23 crore when compared with Rs 12.58 crore in Q4FY21. Total income, however, grew by 10.2 per cent to Rs 1,078.37 crore from Rs 978.56 crore.

Reliance Industries share price touched a 52-week high of Rs 2,827.10 and crossed total market capitalization of Rs 19 lakh crore. Reliance Industries was quoting at Rs 2,803.30, up Rs 27.60, or 0.99 per cent on the BSE. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC Ltd (TA’ZIZ) on April 26 announced the signing of shareholder agreement for the Ruwais chemicals project.

Bajaj Finance share price shed over 5 per cent in the early trade on April 27 after the company reported its March quarter earnings. Bajaj Finance on April 26 reported a 79.7 per cent year-on-year (yoy) rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,420 crore due to higher net interest income and lower provisions.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial, said: “The roller coaster ride in markets is set to continue in the near-term. With the 3.95 per cent sell-off yesterday Nasdaq is now 23 per cent down from its record highs and, therefore, can be said to be in bear market territory. But yesterday’s fall has more to do with Tesla’s 12per cent crash and therefore a bounce back cannot be ruled out. The real worry for markets now is a possible sharp global slowdown triggered by the coming aggressive monetary tightening in the US, severe Covid-related lockdowns in China and woes in the Euro Zone caused by the Ukraine war. The dollar index moving above 102 and the US 10-year bond yield dipping to 2.7 per cent reflect this growth slowdown fears. In India there are clear signs of improvement in business sentiments. Investors can use the sharp dips in markets to buy value stocks like the leading banks.”

Global Cues

Wall Street ended sharply lower on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq closing at its lowest since December 2020 as investors worried about slowing global growth and a more aggressive Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.38 per cent to end at 33,240.18 points, while the S&P 500 lost 2.81 per cent to 4,175.2. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.95 per cent to 12,490.74. Of the 134 companies in the S&P 500 that reported earnings so far, topped analysts’ profit expectations by 80.6 per cent, according to Refinitiv data. In a typical quarter, 66 per cent beat estimates.

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