HDFC twins, IT stocks drag Sensex 566pts down; Nifty holds 17800; PSBs zoom

Equity markets remained quiet on Wednesday, trading in the negative zone for a second straight day, as one of the US Fed official's hawkish comments and rising bond yields globally halted rally. 

The S&P BSE Sensex declined 564 points, or 0.94 per cent, to end at 59,610 while the Nifty50 shut shop at 17,808, down 150 points or 0.83 per cent.

HDFC Bank, HDFC, and HDFC Life were the biggest laggards on the 50-pack index as they fell between 2.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent. READ MORE

Besides, HCL Tech, Infosys, Tech M, Shree Cement, TCS, Divis Labs, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, and M&M were the other losers, sliding upwards of 1 per cent each.

These losses were, however, trimmed by gains in Coal India, Tata Steel, NTPC, UPL, PowerGrid, BPCL, and Bharti Airtel. These shares added in the range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent. 

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices advanced about 0.4 per cent each on the back of up to 20 per cent gains in YES Bank, Tata Power, Adani Power, Vodafone Idea, OnMobile Global, and Vaibhav Global. 

Among the lot, shares of Tata Power hit a fresh record high of Rs 296.5, up 8 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade, in an otherwise weak market, on the back of heavy volume on improved business outlook. The stock of Tata Group electric utilities company has rallied 24 per cent in the past four trading days. READ MORE

Shares of Vodafone Idea (Vi), too, moved 7 per cent higher to Rs 11.06 on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade on the back of heavy volumes, in an otherwise weak market. The stock of the telecom services company was trading higher for the fourth straight day and has rallied 14 per cent during the same period. READ MORE 

That apart, shares of Gautam Adani-led Adani Group companies continued their upward march with Adani Enterprises and Adani Green Energy hitting respective life-time highs after these two companies along with Adani Transmission announced plans to raise funds. Technical charts suggest up to 18 per cent upside in Group stocks. READ MORE

On the flipside, shares of Ruchi Soya Industries continued to witness selling pressure, and fell as much as 19 per cent to Rs 706 on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade amid heavy volumes ahead of the listing of shares allotted via follow-on-public offering (FPO). The stock of edible oil company has slipped 28 per cent in the past one week, as compared to a 2.8 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. READ MORE

Sectorally, the Nifty PSU Bank and Metal indices were the only gainers in this subdued market, rising 2 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively. On the downside, the Nifty Financial Services and IT indices slipped 1.6 per cent each, followed by the Nifty Bank index, down 1.2 per cent.

Global markets

European markets inched lower on Wednesday against a backdrop of hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials and further sanctions against Russia. The pan-European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.3 per cent in early trade, with autos shedding 0.9 per cent to lead losses while food and beverage stocks nudged 0.3 per cent higher. The UK's FTSE100, Germany's DAX,and France's CAC40, meanwhile, eased 0.5-1.5 per cent. 

On Wall Street, Nasdaq Futures shed nearly 1 per cent while Dow Jones and S&P500 futures slipped 0.5 per cent each.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei ended 1.6 per cent lower, South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.88 per cent, and China's CSI300 fell 0.3 per cent.