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The 30-share Sensex fell 1.04 per cent to 60,657.45 while its broader peer the Nifty50 also closed 1.04 per cent lower to settle at 18,042.95
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Indian equities slipped nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday as financial and metal stocks weighed due to rising Covid-19 cases and crucial Fed Minutes of the December meeting.
The 30-share Sensex fell 1.04 per cent to 60,657.45 while its broader peer the Nifty50 also closed 1.04 per cent lower to settle at 18,042.95.
Wednesday marked the first session for Indian equities where the ended in the Red in the new year.
The US Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes are due to be released later in the day.
The Fed in December had slowed the pace of rate hikes to 50 bps from 75 bps but it said that rate hikes could continue for some time before it gets conclusive evidence of inflation slowing down.
On the Sensex Maruti Suzuki and Tata Consultancy Services were among the top gainers. Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Power Grid Corporation of India, Wipro, and Infosys were among the top losers on heavyweight index.
“Markets snapped a 2-day winning streak as caution prevailed ahead of the US FOMC minutes of the December policy meeting scheduled to be announced later in the day. IMF head Kristalina Georgieva has also warned that 2023 is going to be a tough year as the main engines of growth, namely the US, Europe, and China, are all experiencing weakening activity. If recession and inflation fears grow further then the benchmark Nifty shall face more pressure in the near term,” said Prashanth Tapse, Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.
The Nifty Metal Index slipped 2.11 per cent, the highest among various sectoral indices. The highly weighted financials index lost 0.98 per cent.
Vedanta fell 3.52 per cent after reporting a 9 per cent drop in average gross operated production for the third quarter, while aluminium production also declined.
On the technical outlook, Srikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities, said that as long as the index is trading below 18,200/61,200 level the correction wave is
likely to continue.
“Below the same, the market could slip till 17,950-17,900/60,400-60,200. On the flip side, fresh uptrend rally possible only after 18,200/61,200 above the same, the index could move up to 18,300-18,335/61,500-61,600,” he added.