The key equity barometers continued to trade with major losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered below the 20,000 level. Metal shares extended losses for the third consecutive trading session.
At 13:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 698.50 points or 1.03% to 66,898.34. The Nifty 50 index lost 202.50 points or 1.01% to 19,930.80.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.18% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.52%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,484 shares rose and 2,083 shares fell. A total of 160 shares were unchanged.
Nervousness prevailed on the bourses ahead of the release of latest monetary policy decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates steady at a range of 5.25% to 5.50% after raising them at 11 of its past 12 meetings in a bid to cool inflation.
But uncertainty reigns over what the Fed will do in following meetings this year, especially as rising energy prices threaten to lead to an unwelcome return of elevated inflation.
Economy:
India's net FDI declined from USD 17.3 billion in April July 2022 to USD 5.7 billion in April-July 2023 on account of moderating gross FDI and a rise in repatriation.
Despite weakening global prospects, the Indian economy is displaying resilience led by private consumption, fixed investment and robust public sector capital expenditure, as per RBI Bulletin's 'State of the Economy' article.
The Asian Development Bank trimmed its annual growth forecast for several countries in Asia because of China's property crisis and climate related risks. China is expected to grow by 4.9% in 2023, down from an earlier forecast of 5%. India is still projected to be among the region's best performers with a forecasted growth rate of 6.3% (down from 6.4%).
Stocks in Spotlight:
Tata Motors rose 0.37%. The company announced that it will increase prices of its vehicles, effective 1 October 2023, up to 3%. The price increase is to offset the residual impact of the past input costs, and will be applicable across the entire range of commercial vehicles.
HDFC Bank slipped 3.93%. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the re-appointment of Sashidhar Jagdishan as the managing director and chief executive officer of the bank for a period of three years with effect from 27 October 2023 to 26 October 2026.
The bank had held analysts meet on Monday (Sept 18) where it indicated that HDFC's individual gross NPA stood at 1% for the June quarter compared 0.75% in March, while non-individual gross NPA ratio saw a sharp spike from 2.9% in March to 6.7% in June.
Blue Star jumped 12.56%. The company announced that its board approved the opening of qualified institutional placement (QIP) of equity shares with the floor price of Rs 784.55 per share.
Power Grid Corporation of India gained 2.35%. The company said that a meeting of its board is scheduled to be held on 25 September 2023 to consider issue of non-convertible bonds under private placement.
Global Markets:
European stock markets traded higher Wednesday, boosted by a slowing in U.K. inflation while investors await the latest monetary policy decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Data released earlier Wednesday showed that U.K. consumer inflation rose 0.3% on the month in August, with the year-on-year headline figure unexpectedly falling to 6.7% from 6.8% in July.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks traded mostly lower today as China left its one-year and five-year loan prime rates unchanged. China's one-year and five-year loan prime rates were held at 3.45% and 4.2% respectively.
On Friday, the Bank of Japan will conclude its monetary policy meeting and traders will be looking for clarity on when the BOJ will start to shift its ultra-easy monetary policy. Elsewhere, the People's Bank of China is also expected to release its loan prime rate decisions on Friday.
US stocks ended lower on Tuesday ahead of the Fed's decision. The US Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday.
The central bank is widely expected to hold rates steady, but investors will be paying close attention to the summary of economic projections and the press conference of Fed chair Jerome Powell for clues about what might happen in the months ahead.
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