Domestic markets dip in early trade, tracking global cues

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 16 : Indian domestic markets started with losses in early sessions of the morning trade, tracking global markets, with major indices trading in the red. S&P BSE Sensex lost 98.91 points to 61.700.12 while NSE Nifty50 declined 25.25 points to 18,393.65 in the early trade of Friday.
The Federal Reserve's rate hike is having an impact on the global markets as well as on central banks, which had also followed suit on their hikes.
On BSE, the most active stocks which were gaining in the morning were Reliance Infra, Deepak Fertiliser, Indian Overseas Bank and Nava. Laggards include TCI, BEL and SRF on the 30-share index.
On NSE, gainers which showed promise during the early trade included ONGC, Reliance, Tata Motors and Coal India. Some of the laggards were Asian Paints, Infosys, Titan, HCL Tech and TCS.
In Asian markets, Japan' s Nikkei lost 454 points, Hong Kong's Hang Seng went down 121 points and China's Shanghai declined 6.85 points in the morning trade. In Europe, FTSE lost 69 points, Deutsche declined 473 points while Refinitiv went down 8 points. In the American markets, Dow Jones declined 764 points, Nasdaq went down 360 points and S&P 500 lost 99 points as markets open in the Asian region.
On Thursday, S&P BSE Sensex tumbled 878.88 points or 1.40 per cent to 61,799.03. The Nifty 50 index lost 245.40 points or 1.32 per cent to 18,414.90. Infosys (down 2.59 per cent), HDFC (down 2.07 per cent), HDFC Bank (down 1.86 per cent), Reliance Industries (down 1.38 per cent) and ICICI Bank (down 1.35 per cent) were the major laggards.
S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.05 per cent while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.61 per cent.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 6.57 per cent to 13.7325 on Thursday.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee declined by 27 paise to close at 82.76 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and its hawkish stance dented investor sentiments. A massive sell-off in domestic equities and a strong greenback overseas also weighed on the local unit.
US stocks snapped a two-day winning streak following the decision after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signalled more data was needed before the central bank would meaningfully change its view on inflation.
US central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest level in 15 years and signalled that it would maintain higher rates throughout 2023. Trading was volatile due to the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE. All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the red. IT, metals and PSU banks were major drags.
"It will take substantially more evidence to have confidence that inflation is on a sustained downward" path, Powell said during his post-meeting news conference. However, Powell said inflation remains a problem.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) dropped 6.19 per cent after the offer for sale (OFS) opened for non-retail investors on Thursday. Through the OFS, the government proposes to sell up to 2 crore equity shares (representing 2.5 per cent stake), with an option to sell an additional 2.5 per cent stake or 2 crore equity shares in case of oversubscription.
NTPC rose 0.06 per cent. The state-run power major said that it declared commercial operation of second part capacity of 67.73 megawatt (MW) out of 230 MW Ettayapuram Solar PV project in Tamil Nadu.
Larsen and Toubro (L&T) shed 0.82 per cent. The company said that its hydrocarbon business L&T Energy Hydrocarbon (LTEH) has secured two 'significant' orders for its asset management and AdVENT business verticals.