Sensex skids 575 pts, Nifty below 17,650; Tata Power sinks 4%, RIL 2%

Domestic equities languished in the red on Thursday as weak global cues and nervousness ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy outcome tomorrow kept investors on the sidelines. 

The RBI is set to announce its first bi-monthly interest rate decision on Friday where investors will eye the central bank's revised growth and inflation forecast. A media report, earlier today, suggested that the RBI may rework wording of 'Accommodative' stance. Besides, it may also highlight that the Russia-Ukraine war could keep CPI inflation above 6 per cent. This is higher than the RBI's Feb projection of 4.5 per cent and the markets' expectation of 5.5 per cent for whole of FY23.

Besides, global markets turned lower and US Treasury yields for 5-year/30-year bonds inverted on Thursday after Fed meeting minutes, released on Wednesday afternoon, showed that US central bank officials planned to shrink its balance sheet by $95 billion a month. Fed officials also indicated that there could be one or more 50-basis-point interest rate increases ahead.

Against this backdrop, the BSE Sensex index fell 575 points to close at 59,035 while the NSE Nifty50 ended at 17,639.5, down 168 points. In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices slipped up to 0.6 per cent relative to the benchmarks' 0.97 per cent fall.

Adani Ports, Titan, HDFC, PowerGrid, Wipro, HDFC Bank, ONGC, PowerGrid, RIL, Bharti Airtel, TCS, Coal India, Tata Steel, and L&T fell between 1.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent. On the upside, Axis Bank, Divis Labs, Dr Reddy's Labs, and HUL added over a per cent.

Meanwhile, within the mid- and small-cap space, Ruchi Soya, Bharat Electronics, YES Bank, NHPC, Shree Renuka Sugars, and BLS International Services were the outperforming stocks, soaring in the range of 4 per cent to 20 per cent. 

Sectorally, The Nifty Oil and Gas, and Consumer Durable indices ended over 2 per cent and 1.7 per cent lower, respectively. On the upside, the Nifty Pharma index added 0.4 per cent.

Buzzing stocks

Shares of Titan Company declined 3.3 per cent to Rs 2,457 apiece on the BSE on Thursday after the company reported sluggish growth in its jewellery business in March quarter of FY22 (Q4FY22). READ MORE

Zee Entertainment shares slipped 3.4 per cent to a low of Rs 281.10 in the intra-day trades on the NSE on Thursday amid heavy volume. The shares, however, trimmed losses to end little over 1.5 per cent down. READ MORE

That apart, shares of IDFC plunged 7 per cent to Rs 63 apiece on the BSE on Thursday, a day after the company announced the divestment of IDFC and IDFC Financial Holdings' entire shareholding in IDFC AMC and IDFC AMC Trustee to a consortium led by Bandhan Financial Holding Limited for Rs 4,500 crore. READ MORE

On the upside, shares of YES Bank surged 10.6 per cent to Rs 16.25 per share, hitting 52-week high in an otherwise weak market, after ratings agency CARE Ratings upgraded infrastructure, lower tier-2, and upper tier-2 bonds to positive. READ MORE

Global markets

European markets were choppy on Thursday as volatility continued following details of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary tightening plans and the ongoing war in Ukraine. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.6 per cent by mid-morning, having fluctuated since the start of trading.

On Wall Street, Dow Jones Futures were marginally in the negative zone while S&P 500 and Nasdaq Futures marched ahead.

In Asia, main indices in Japan, South Korea, Australia, and China fell between 0.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent.