Barometers end with modest losses; Nifty settles near 17,000; Wipro slumps 7%

The domestic equity benchmarks ended with moderate losses amid negative Asian cues on Thursday. The Nifty closed around the 17,000 level. Media, pharma and healthcare shares saw some buying demand while bank, financial services and realty stocks saw a bit of selling pressure. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 390.58 points or 0.68% to 57,235.33. The Nifty 50 index lost 109.25 points or 0.64% to 17,014.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.73% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.45%.

 

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,309 shares rose, and 2,119 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's consumer price inflation rose to a five-month high of 7.41% in September from 7% in August, data from the National Statistical Office showed on Wednesday. In the same period last year, inflation was 4.35%. The inflation rate was well above the Reserve Bank of India's medium-term target of 4%.

Industrial production in India declined 0.8% year-over-year in August, reversing a 2.2% rise in July, official data showed. Further, this was the first decrease since February 2021. Among three main sectors, mining output fell the most, by 3.9%, followed by a 0.7% contraction in manufacturing production. On the other hand, electricity production registered a positive growth of 1.4%. In the April to August period, the industrial production posted an expansion of 7.7% annually.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Wipro declined 7.03%. The IT major's consolidated net profit rose 3.72% to Rs 2,659 crore on 4.7% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 22,539.7 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q1 FY23. On a year on year (YoY) basis, the IT firm's net profit declined 9.27% while revenue jumped 14.6% in Q2 FY23.

For the quarter ending 31 December 2022, Wipro expects revenue from its IT Services business to be in the range of $2,811 million to $2,853 million. This translates to a sequential growth of 0.5% to 2%.

HCL Technologies rose 3.09%. The company reported 6.27% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,489 crore on a 5.2% rise in revenue to Rs 24,686 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q1 FY23. Compared with Q2 last year, net income rose 7.09% while topline jumped 19.5% in the second quarter.

For FY23, the company increased revenue guidance to 13.5%-14.5% YoY in constant currency. Services revenue is expected to grow 16%-17% YoY in constant currency. EBIT margin guidance is revised to 18%-19%.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone declined 2.24%. The company said that it has received letter of award (LoA) from West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, Kolkata, for development of deep-sea port at Tajpur, West Bengal. The deep-sea port would be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

NTPC shed 0.09%. NTPC and Siemens signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to demonstrate the feasibility for hydrogen co-firing blended with natural gas in Siemens V94.2 gas turbines installed at NTPC Faridabad gas power plant. The total installed capacity of Faridabad gas power plant is 432 megawatt (MW) with two V94.2 gas turbines operating in combined cycle mode.

Larsen & Toubro fell 1.69%. The EPC major has announced that its heavy engineering arm has won several 'significant' contracts in Q2 of FY23. As per Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) classification, the value of the significant project is Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore.

Aditya Birla Money jumped 12.79% after the company reported 51% rise in net profit to Rs 9.70 crore on a 18.5% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 68.19 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q2 FY22. Total expenses during the quarter rose by 16.7% YoY to Rs 57.13 crore, primarily due to sharp jump in finance costs (up 89.1% YoY).

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) hit an upper circuit limit of 5% after the company said that Tata Tele Business Services (TTBS) has partnered with Google Cloud to offer Google Workspace for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs).

RITES jumped 12.11% after the company said that its consortium has secured a new business order for construction of depot cum workshop for Rs 499.41 crore from Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation. "The share of RITES in the order is 51%, the company said in a statement.

Global markets:

The Dow Jones futures rose 144 points, indicating a positive opening in the US stock market today.

Shares in Europe advanced while Asian stocks edged lower across the board on Thursday as investors await inflation data from the U.S. due later stateside.

Meanwhile, the German consumer price index rose by 10% year-on-year in September and 1.9% month-on-month, the country's Federal Statistical Office reportedly said Thursday. EU-harmonized CPI inflation was 10.9% annually and 2.2% on the month, the reports added.

US stocks ended a choppy session slightly lower on Wednesday after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting showed policymakers agreed they needed to maintain a more restrictive policy stance.

The Federal Reserve's September meeting minutes, released Wednesday, show that the central bank expects to continue increasing interest rates and hold them higher until inflation shows signs of abating.

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