Indices drop in early trade on weak global cues; breadth strong

The key equity benchmarks traded with significant cuts in early trade, amid sharp sell-off in key index pivotals. The Nifty traded below the 17,600 mark. Markets in Asia declined across the board on Wednesday.

At 09:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 287.12 points or 0.49% to 58,909.87. The Nifty 50 index lost 71.45 points or 0.40% to 17,584.15.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.12% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.22%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1650 shares rose and 976 shares fell. A total of 106 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Wipro shed 0.44%. The IT major said that it has entered an expanded collaboration with Palo Alto Networks to deliver managed security and network transformation solutions like SASE (secure access service edge), cloud security and next-generation SOC (security operations center) solutions based on `zero trust` principles for global enterprises.

Paras Defence and Space Technologies gained 3.58%. The company has entered into an exclusive teaming agreement with `ELDIS Pardubice` s.r.o., Czech Republic, with an intention to provide turnkey anti-drone systems for civilian airports in India.

Zuari Industries rose 2.11%. The company said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been executed between Zuari Industries, Envien International, Malta (EIL), and Zuari Envien Bioenergy (ZEBPL) to build and operate a biofuel distillery and further explore the organic and inorganic business opportunities in the biofuel space in India.

Global markets:

Asian stocks traded lower on Wednesday as investors anticipate the Federal Reserve to give its summary on current economic conditions, also known as the Beige Book.

Australia`s real GDP grew 0.9% in the second quarter after rising 0.7% in the previous period, official data showed. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the continued growth was backed by the first full quarter of reopened borders. The data also showed the Australian economy grew 3.6% over the past year.

Wall Street`s main indices closed lower on Tuesday, the first session after the US Labor Day holiday and summer vacations, as traders assessed fresh economic data in volatile trading.

A survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed the U.S. services industry picked up in August for the second straight month amid stronger order growth and employment, while supply bottlenecks and price pressures eased.

The Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing PMI edged up to a reading of 56.9 last month from 56.7 in July, the second consecutive monthly increase after three months of declines.

The focus will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell`s speech on Thursday as well U.S. consumer price data next week for clues on the path of monetary policy.

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