Nifty slides below 17,900 level; oil & gas stocks tumble

The domestic equity barometers declined further and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. Weak global cues and sluggish growth outlook of companies spooked investors. The Nifty slipped below the 17,900 level. Oil & gas stocks extended their decline for second day in a row.

At 11:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 816.68 points or 1.34% to 60,162.07. The Nifty 50 index lost 247.45 points or 1.37% to 17,870.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.53% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.11%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 845 shares rose, and 2445 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell 1.35% to 8,483.50. The index has declined 1.73% in two sessions.

Adani Total Gas (down 3.33%), Gujarat State Petronet (down 2.2%), Indraprastha Gas (down 1.8%), Oil India (down 1.46%) and Reliance Industries (down 0.96%) were the top losers.

Among the other losers were GAIL (India) (down 0.93%), Petronet LNG (down 0.85%), Mahanagar Gas (down 0.85%), Castrol India (down 0.8%) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 0.46%).

Meanwhile, Aegis Logistics (up 0.67%) and Gujarat Gas (up 0.17%) turned up.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Laxmi Organic Industries fell 2.87%. The company`s consolidated net profit slumped 61.4% to Rs 27.23 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 70.54 crore reported in Q3 FY22.

Macrotech Developers shed 0.53%. On a consolidated basis, the real estate developer`s net profit jumped 41.41% to Rs 404.98 crore despite of 13.87% surge in net sales to Rs 1,773.80 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

United Spirits tumbled 4.01%. The spirits maker`s standalone net profit tumbled 64.45% to Rs 110.5 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 310.8 crore posted in Q3 FY22.

CarTrade Tech added 3.77%. The company`s consolidated adjusted net profit rose 15% to Rs 24.05 crore on 9% increase in net revenue from operations to Rs 93.71 crore in Q3 December 2022 over Q3 December 2021.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks traded in a mixed manner on Wednesday, taking the lead from Wall Street`s struggle for direction as China and Hong Kong markets remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

US stocks ended nominally lower on Tuesday at the close of a rocky session marked by a raft of mixed earnings and a technical malfunction at the opening bell.

The downturn in the US business activity eased slightly in January even as it contracted for the seventh straight month, survey showed on Tuesday. S&P Global said its flash US Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, shot off to 46.6 this month from a final reading of 45 in December.

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