Benchmarks trade with limited losses; European shares mostly edge lower

The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with limited losses in afternoon trade. Negative global cues dented the sentiments. The Nifty traded tad above the 17,000 level. Markets in Europe and Asia mostly declined on Thursday.

At 13:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 362.37 points or 0.63% to 57,263.54. The Nifty 50 index lost 98.80 points or 0.58% to 17,024.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.77% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.46%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,147 shares rose, and 2,197 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India`s consumer price inflation rose to a five-month high of 7.41% in September from 7% in August, data from the National Statistical Office showed on Wednesday. In the same period last year, inflation was 4.35%. The inflation rate was well above the Reserve Bank of India`s medium-term target of 4%.

Industrial production in India declined 0.8% year-over-year in August, reversing a 2.2% rise in July, official data showed. Further, this was the first decrease since February 2021. Among three main sectors, mining output fell the most, by 3.9%, followed by a 0.7% contraction in manufacturing production. On the other hand, electricity production registered a positive growth of 1.4%. In the April to August period, the industrial production posted an expansion of 7.7% annually.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Wipro declined 6.95%. The IT major`s consolidated net profit rose 3.72% to Rs 2,659 crore on 4.7% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 22,539.7 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q1 FY23. On a year on year (YoY) basis, the IT firm`s net profit declined 9.27% while revenue jumped 14.6% in Q2 FY23.

For the quarter ending 31 December 2022, Wipro expects revenue from its IT Services business to be in the range of $2,811 million to $2,853 million. This translates to a sequential growth of 0.5% to 2%.

HCL Technologies rose 2.97%. The company reported 6.27% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,489 crore on a 5.2% rise in revenue to Rs 24,686 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q1 FY23. Compared with Q2 last year, net income rose 7.09% while topline jumped 19.5% in the second quarter.

For FY23, the company increased revenue guidance to 13.5%-14.5% YoY in constant currency. Services revenue is expected to grow 16%-17% YoY in constant currency. EBIT margin guidance is revised to 18%-19%.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone declined 2.90%. The company said that it has received letter of award (LoA) from West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, Kolkata, for development of deep-sea port at Tajpur, West Bengal. The deep-sea port would be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

NTPC shed 0.18%. NTPC and Siemens signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to demonstrate the feasibility for hydrogen co-firing blended with natural gas in Siemens V94.2 gas turbines installed at NTPC Faridabad gas power plant. The total installed capacity of Faridabad gas power plant is 432 megawatt (MW) with two V94.2 gas turbines operating in combined cycle mode.

Larsen & Toubro fell 1.91%. The EPC major has announced that its heavy engineering arm has won several `significant` contracts in Q2 of FY23. As per Larsen & Toubro`s (L&T) classification, the value of the significant project is Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore.

Global markets:

Markets in Europe and Asia mostly edged lower on Thursday as investors await inflation data from the U.S. due later stateside.

Meanwhile, the German consumer price index rose by 10% year-on-year in September and 1.9% month-on-month, the country`s Federal Statistical Office reportedly said Thursday. EU-harmonized CPI inflation was 10.9% annually and 2.2% on the month, the reports added.

US stocks ended a choppy session slightly lower on Wednesday after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting showed policymakers agreed they needed to maintain a more restrictive policy stance.

The Federal Reserve`s September meeting minutes, released Wednesday, show that the central bank expects to continue increasing interest rates and hold them higher until inflation shows signs of abating.

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