Market Wrap podcast, Oct 27: Here's all that happened in the markets today

After exhibiting lacklustre movement for the major part of the trading day, the key benchmark indices eventually ended in red as select financial shares extended losses at close.

After swinging between 61,577 and 60,989, the BSE Sensex eventually ended with a loss of 207 points at 61,143. It's NSE counterpart, Nifty50, ended at 18,211, down 57 points.

Axis Bank shed 6.5 per cent and Bajaj Finance plunged 4.8 per cent to end s top drags on the benchmark indices. Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Nestle India, Kotak Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were the other major Sensex losers.

On the upside, Asian Paints surged 4.4 per cent on reports of price hikes by Berger Paints in November. Sun Pharma, Infosys, SBI, UltraTech Cement and ITC were the other prominent gainers.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices ended flat but with a positive bias.

Among individual stocks, shares of Maruti Suzuki ended 0.77 per cent higher at Rs 7,352.5 even as the company's Sept quarter net profit fell 65 per cent YoY to Rs 475.3 crore on the back of chip shortages and soaring commodity prices. Operationally, its Ebitda fell 56 per cent YoY to Rs 854.8 crore and Ebitda margin shrank 610 basis points YoY to 4.2 per cent.

Besides, shares of Axis Bank ended 6.5 per cent lower after the bank reported a weak operating performance in September quarter (Q2FY22). In Q2FY22, Axis Bank's net interest income rose marginally by 7.8 per cent year-on-year at Rs 7,900 crore on account of 19 bps YoY fall in net interest margins to 3.39 per cent. Margins were impacted negatively by 13 bps sequentially due to change in mix.

Apart from the result reaction, shares of SBI also hogged the limelight today as the company surpassed Bajaj Finance in terms of market cap. While SBI shares hit a record high of Rs 527 apiece, shares of Bajaj Finance declined nearly 5 per cent on the back of profit booking post September quarter results. By close, their respective m-caps stood at Rs 462,321 crore and Rs 451,509.7 crore.

Meanwhile, in other news, SoftBank will sell around 20 per cent of its total stake in Policybazaar's initial public offering, the fintech company said today. The Japanese venture fund currently has a 13 per cent stake in the IPO-bound company. The initial share sale will open on November 1.

That apart, India's inclusion in JPMorgan's global emerging-market bond index could prompt $25 billion of inflows from foreign investors, the bank said in a research report. While actual inclusion will depend on domestic and international developments, given India's large weight in the index, the process would likely be staggered over 10 months, similar to China’s inclusion into GBI-EM in 2020, the report added.

Now, on Thursday, a host of domestic and global triggers will keep the indices volatile. To begin with, investors will adjust their portfolio ahead of F&O expiry of the October series. Additionally, around 150 companies including Bajaj Finserv, CarTrade Tech, DLF, InterGlobe Aviation, JK Tyre, Marico, NTPC, Tata Power, SBI Card, and Westlife Development are slated to report their Q2 results tomorrow.

In the primary market, Nykaa's Rs 5,300 crore IPO will open for subscription tomorrow.

On the global front, investors will track the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision, fund flow activity by FIIs, and crude oil prices.