Sensex cracks 50,000-mark, Nifty hold 15,000

Benchmark equity indices extended their losses and ended half a per cent lower on profit-booking and worries of global inflation. At close, Sensex slipped 290 points or 0.58% at 49,902 while the Nifty ended at 15,030 down 78 points or 0.52%. Tata Motors tanked over 5% after the company reported a loss of over Rs 7,500 crore in Q4FY21.

Sun Pharma, Nestle India, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Auto & Axis Bank rose anywhere between 0.6-1.9%. Whereas stocks like M&M, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, Bharti Airtel & Ultratech Cement were the biggest losers on the Sensex falling up to 1.75%.

“The recent sharp rally has triggered some caution for the near-term. The global market was tentative ahead of the announcement of Fed minutes, this was mirrored in the domestic market, though it is not expected to hawkish. Optimism gained from declining covid cases resisted a sharp correction in the domestic market,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Sectoral indices ended with mixed signals. As Nifty Metal, Nifty Bank & Nifty Auto tanked in the range of 0.70-1%. On the contrary, the Nifty Realty index jumped 2.15%, while the Nifty Pharma index rallied 1.22% and the Nifty IT index ended with marginal gains of 0.09%.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices as BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices ended 0.53 per cent and 0.35 per cent higher, respectively. Even the market breadth remained positive as 1,069 shares advanced versus 833 stocks declined and 356 scrips remained unchanged.

Global markets:

US Dow Jones index futures were down 111 points, indicating a weak opening in US stock today.

Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday. Markets in Hong Kong and South Korea are closed for holidays.

Meanwhile, China has banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions and warned investors against speculative crypto trading.

U.S. stock indexes wiped out earlier gains and closed at their session lows on Tuesday as Big Tech stocks reversed lower, while data showing housing starts dropped sharply last month also weighed on sentiment.

Housing starts tumbled 9.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.569 million units last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.