MARKET: Sensex pares losses, down 200pts, Nifty near 17,100; Axis Bk up 4%

Markets at 10 AM

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices recouped their opening losses staging a smart pull-back in early morning deals. Gains in select counters including Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Tata Steel and TCS, all up between 0.5-4 per cent, were supporting the recovery.

"The excessive volatility is likely to continue for a few more days until clarity emerges out of the crucial Fed meet. The market is discounting a hawkish Fed and if the Fed indicates four rate hikes in 2022, the market will again turn weak. On the contrary, if the Fed sounds less hawkish, the oversold markets may stage a comeback and even a sharp rebound on short covering," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"Investors, however, have to be cautious and be slightly defensive in their strategy since valuations have not become cheap. But since there is value in high quality financials and IT, long-term investors can start nibbling in these segments", he added.

This apart, in the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices also recovered sharply and were now in the green zone, trading up 0.8 and 0.9 per cent, respectively.

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices started lower on Monday carrying their sharp losses into a sixth straight session. The BSE Sensex was 856 points down at 56,635, while the NSE Nifty was at 16,898, lower by 250.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were also in red and were down up to 2.8 per cent.

Among the Sensex-30 constituents, Axis Bank, PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel were the only gainers, up 0.5-2 per cent. JSW Steel and Coal India were the additonal gainers on the Nifty.

On the flip side, Asian Paints, Wipro, Kotak Bank, HDFC twins, L&T, RIL, Tech M, Nestle, Ultratech Cement, Titan, Infosys and HUL were the leading losers, down 1-3 per cent.

Sectorally, all indices were in the red zone, except Nifty Metals and PSU Banks, up 0.5 per cent each. The biggest losers were the Nifty IT, Consumer Durables and Financials indices, down 1 per cent each.

The volatility index on the NSE was up 4 per cent around 23 level, it had surged 21 per cent on Monday by close.

Individually, shares of Deepak Nitrite were trading nearly 6 per cent lower on the BSE post the company's Q3 results posted on Monday. The company reported nearly 12 per cent YoY increase in net profit at Rs 242.46 crore, and its revenue grew 39.49 per cent to Rs 1,722.27 crores from a year ago.

On the flip side, Axis Bank was the leading gainer on the bourses, up 3 per cent on the back of its strong earnings for the December quarter. The private sector lender’s net profit soared 224 per cent YoY to Rs 3,614 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021 on improvement in net interest margin (NIM) and other income. Net interest income (NII) rose by 17 per cent YoY to Rs 8,653 crores.

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Among individual stocks, Brightcom Group, Cipla, Federal Bank, Indiabulls Real Estate, Macrotech Developers, Maruti Suzuki and SRF are some of the companies to announce December quarter results today. READ MORE

Shares of SBI Cards and Axis Bank are also likely to be in focus, following the strong Q3 performance. The former has reported a 84 per cent YoY surge in Q3FY22 PAT at Rs 386 crore, backed by higher interest and fee income. The latter’s net profit soared 224 per cent YoY to Rs 3,614 crore on improvement in net interest margin (NIM) and other income.

Bharti Airtel too is likely to be in limelight, as the company’s board is scheduled to meet on Friday to evaluate a proposal for raising funds.

Global cues

In the US, key benchmark indices rallied nearly 5 per cent from the lows of the day to end marginally higher on Monday. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent each, while the Nasdaq added 0.6 per cent.

Meanwhile oil prices cooled-down from their recent highs. Brent Crude slipped 1.8 per cent to $86.27 a barrel, and WTI Crude declined 2.2 per cent to $83.31 a barrel.

Despite the sharp pullback in the US markets, the major markets in Asia were nursing losses. Japan’s Nikkei had plunged 1.7 per cent, Kospi too tumbled nearly 2 per cent, and Taiwan had shed 1.2 per cent. Straits Times was down 0.8 per cent, while Shanghai quoted flat.