Markets ended the day lower ahead of exit polls; Metal stocks melt

Aviation stocks soared after Delhi Govt's announced of a massive cut in jet fuel tax to 1% from 25%

Benchmark indices ended closer as markets remained cautious ahead of the exit polls data and results for assembly elections in five states and the US Federal Reserve policy meeting next week.
           
The market rebounded from the day’s lows, with the Nifty reclaiming its 8900-mark led by the banking stocks like Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank.
 
The S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 28,902, down 92 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 8,924, down 23 points.
 

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices shed 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively. 

 
State elections results, including that of Uttar Pradesh, will have a key influence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chances of clinching a second term in 2019, is to be revealed on Saturday.
 
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has a policy meeting on March 14-15 and markets are expecting a rate hike after recent hawkish comments by policymakers.

"Market continued its consolidation path due to the growing caution on assembly election results and FED rate hike which navigated investors to stay sideline. Dollar index is trading in a tight range as the market is keenly waiting for US job data on Friday to take more confirmation on the upcoming FOMC meet," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

 
The Nifty snapped its 8900-mark while the Sensex fell as much as 184 points at intra-day.
 
The market breadth was in the negative zone as 1,014 shares had advanced, 1,792 shares declined, while 162 shares are unchanged.
 
Sectors and Stocks
 
ONGC, Tata Steel, Infosys and RIL dragged the index, while TCS, SBI and PowerGrid gained a tad on BSE Sensex.
 
Metal Stocks were the biggest laggards on BSE Sensex with NALCO, NMDC, Vedanta and JSPL shedding 1.9-4.3%.

Kotak Mahindra Bank pared gains after rising as much 2.69% to a record high, following reports of stake sale to Canadian pension fund.  According to media reports, Uday Kotak is in discussions for a sale of over 3% stake in the bank to Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (CPDQ). The stock ended 0.8% higher.

 
Aviation stocks soared after Delhi Government’s announced of a massive cut in jet fuel tax to 1% from 25% in a bid to improve North-East connectivity.  Among the stocks that led the gain was SpiceJet, which surged over 7% intraday to settled the day 2% higher. Other major airlines such as Jet Airways and IndiGo also ended over 2% higher.
 
Gail (India) pared gain to settled the day in red (sown 1.8%) after hitting a fresh 52-week high of Rs 534, up 2% on BSE in an otherwise subdued market as the stock will turn ex-bonus in the ratio of 1:3 on Thursday.

 
Tata Steel was the top Sensex loser and slipped over 2% to Rs 472 after the company said it will close the British Steel Pension Scheme to future accrual from March 31 and employees will get a new contributory scheme for their retirement savings thereafter.
 
Global Markets
 
Asian stocks erased early losses and edged higher on Wednesday as strong China trade data bolstered bets of a recovering global economy, though gains were capped by caution ahead of a widely expected US interest rate hike next week.
 
The China trade data pushed the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up by a quarter of a percent, putting it on track for a third consecutive day of gains. Mainland and Hong Kong stocks led gainers.

 
European shares were trading flat on Wednesday in early deals, the modest move masking significant results-driven gains from German sportswear company Adidas and British security company G4S among others, on a busy day for European earnings.
 
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was flat in percentage terms, as losses by EDF and Boskalis weighed.
 
(With inputs from Reuters)