Sensex slides 101 pts; breadth negative

The benchmark indices were trading with small losses in afternoon trade, dragged by banks, financials and auto stocks. The Nifty hovered a tad below 18,200 level.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 100.72 points or 0.16% at 61,049.32. The Nifty 50 index lost 16.35 points or 0.09% at 18,196.

HDFC Bank (down 1.71%), Wipro (down 5.63%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 1.40%) dragged the indices.

Broader markets were trading higher. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.01%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.23%.

Sellers outnumbered the buyers. On the BSE, 1,622 shares rose and 1,734 shares fell. A total of 104 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

India reported 2,47,417 new cases in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate stood at 13.11%. The country`s active caseload currently stands at 11,17,531. Active cases stands at 3.08% of the total infections and recovery rate currently stands at 95.59%. There were 84,825 recoveries in the last 24 hours, which increases total recoveries to 3,47,15,361.

Economy:

India`s retail inflation rose sharply to 5.59% in the month of December from 4.91% in November, pushed up by rising prices of manufactured items, data released by the government showed on Wednesday. Inflation as measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 4.59% in the year-ago period.

Separately, industrial production for the month of November grew by 1.4% as compared to (-)1.6 % in the same month last year. IIP surged 3.2% in the month of October.

Gainers & Losers:

Tata Steel (up 4.69%), JSW Steel (up 3.61%), Coal India (up 3.45%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 3.43%) and UPL (up 2.33%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.

Maruti Suzuki India (down 2.40%), HDFC Bank (down 1.71%), Asian Paints (down 1.66%) and Tata Consumer Products (down 1.44%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Wipro dropped 5.63%.The IT company reported a 1.3% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,970 crore on a 3.3% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 20,313.6 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q2 FY22. In dollar terms, Wipro`s gross revenue was $2.7 billion in the third quarter of financial year ended 2022. The IT services segment revenue stood at $2,639.7 million, an increase of 2.3% Q-o-Q and 27.5% Y-o-Y. IT services operating margin for the quarter was at 17.6%, a decrease of 19 basis points quarter on quarter. Wipro said it expects revenue from its IT services business to be in the range of $2,692 million to $2,745 million. This translates to a sequential growth of 2% to 4%.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rose 0.95%. The IT major`s consolidated net profit rose 1.51% to Rs 9,769 crore on 4.31% increase in net sales to Rs 48,885 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q2 FY22. On a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis, the IT major`s net profit rose 12.27% and net sales rose 16.35% in Q3 FY22. Constant currency revenue grew 15.4% Y-o-Y. Operating margin fell 1.6% Y-o-Y to 25% in Q3 FY22. The board recommended to buyback upto four crore equity shares for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 18,000 crore, being 1.08% of the total paid-up equity share capital, at Rs 4,500 per share. The buyback price is 16.66% premium to Wednesday`s closing price. The board recommended a third interim dividend of Rs 7 per share.

Infosys gained 0.63%. The IT major`s consolidated net profit rose 7.1% to Rs 5,809 crore on a 7.7% increase in revenues to Rs 31,867 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q2 FY22. On a year-on-year basis, Infosys` net profit and revenue in Q3 FY22 increased 11.8% and 22.9%, respectively. In dollar terms, the company reported revenues of $4,250 million, registering a growth of 20.9% Y-o-Y for the quarter ended 31 December 2021. Revenues in constant currency terms grew by 21.5% Y-o-Y and 7% Q-o-Q. Operating margin for the quarter stood at 23.5%, a decline of 1.9% Y-o-Y and 0.1% Q-o-Q. Infosys has revised upwards its revenue guidance for FY22 to 19.5%-20%. Margin guidance is retained at 22%-24%.

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