The domestic equity barometers ended with deep cuts after a weak session on Thursday. The Nifty ended below the 17,600 level after hitting the day's high of 17,772.35 in early trade. Barring metal stocks, shares across sectors declined with auto, IT and FMCG shares falling the most.
As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 541.81 or 0.90% to 59,806.28. The Nifty 50 index lost 164.80 points or 0.93% to 17,589.60.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.55% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.20%.
The market breadth favored the sellers. On the BSE, 1,575 shares rose and 1,919 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.
Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Auto index fell 1.83% to 12,781.20. The index had advanced 2.20% in the past three sessions.
Mahindra & Mahindra (down 3.34%), Balkrishna Industries (down 3.19%), Tube Investments of India (down 2.18%), TVS Motor Company (down 1.95%) and Eicher Motors (down 1.89%) were the top losers.
Among the other losers were Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.73%), Tata Motors (down 1.71%), Sona BLW Precision Forgings (down 1.47%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.46%) and MRF (down 1.45%).
Stocks in Spotlight:
Reliance Industries fell 2.37%. Radisys Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance's Jio Platforms has signed definitive aggreements to acquire Mimosa Networks from Airspan Networks Holdings for $60 million on a debt free, cash free basis.
Power Grid Corporation of India fell 0.57%. The company has announced its plans to issue unsecured, non-convertible, non-cumulative, redeemable, taxable PowerGrid bonds-LXXI aggregating upto Rs 900 crore on private placement basis. The PSU's committee of directors for bonds has approved issue of bonds having base size of upto Rs 300 crore and green shoe option upto Rs 600 crore.
State Bank of India (SBI) declined 1.01%. The country's largest lender has raised Rs 3,717 crore through its third Basel III compliant Additional Tier 1 bond issuance in the current financial year on Wednesday at coupon rate of 8.25%. The proceeds of bonds will be utilized in augmenting Additional Tier 1 Capital and overall capital base of the bank and for strengthening capital adequacy in accordance with RBI Guidelines.
Bharat Forge slipped 0.99%. The company through its E-Mobility subsidiary, Kalyani Powertrain, inaugurated its first E-bike manufacturing facility at MIDC Chakan on 8 March 2023. The facility has a production capacity of 60,000 units per annum and scalable to 100,000 units per annum, will undertake assembly of E-bikes for Tork Motors, 64.29% owned by Kalyani Powertrain.
Kirloskar Oil Engines shed 0.34%. Ten investors have picked up 13.65% stake in the company through bulk deals on Wednesday (8 March 2023), at an average price of Rs 322 per share, amounting to Rs 636 crore. Three promoters offloaded 17.71% stake in the company.
Jindal Stainless lost 0.93%. iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has picked up 33.69 lakh equity shares (0.64% stake) in the stainless steel company through open market transactions, at an average price of Rs 309.42 per share.
Shoppers' Stop rose 0.10%. Shiseido Asia Pacific signed a strategic distribution partnership agreement with Global SS Beauty Brands, a subsidiary of Shoppers Stop, to expand its brand footprint in India. Through the partnership, Shiseido Group will officially launch its global make-up brand, NARS Cosmetics, in second half of 2023 in key cities in India.
Sequent Scientific was locked in 20% upper circuit. The company said that it will not acquire Tineta Pharma and the share purchase agreement entered by the company with Tineta and its promoters stands terminated.
Muthoot Finance declined 0.63%. The NBFC's board approved raising upto Rs 6,500 crore in one or more tranches by issuing redeemable non convertible debentures (NCDs) on private placement basis.
Ugro Capital added 1.65%. The investment and borrowing committee of the company's board allotted 5,000 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 50 crore including a green shoe option of 2,500 NCDs for Rs 25 crore through private placement basis.
G R Infraprojects advanced 2.14%. The civil construction company announced that it has been emerged as lowest (L‐1) bidder for a tender by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under Bharatmala Pariyojana in Bihar on hybrid annuity mode. The bid project cost stood at Rs 1,248.37 crore. The construction is expected to be completed in 730 days from appointed date and the operation period is 15 years from the commercial operation date.
Global markets:
Shares in Europe declined while markets in Asia mostly ended lower on Thursday as investors digested more comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Powell reportedly reiterated his warning message to lawmakers that the central bank may raise interest rates higher than previously anticipated. However, he reportedly said he hasn't made up his mind about what the central bank will do regarding interest rates when it meets later in March.
Japan's GDP grew slower at 0.1% on an annualized for the October-December quarter. The reading is weaker compared with preliminary estimates of a 0.6% growth, and also comes in lower than a 0.8% expansion. Private consumption, which accounts for around 57% of Japan's GDP, inched up by only 0.3%.
Meanwhile, China's consumer price index (CPI) for February was 1.0% higher than a year earlier, rising at the slowest pace since February 2022 and compared with the 2.1% annual rise seen in January, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In the US, major stock indexes ended mixed as traders parsed stronger than expected economic data, sparking concerns of bigger rate increases following Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's congressional speech.
Stronger-than-expected private payrolls numbers for February reaffirmed the strength of the US economy. Private employment increased by 242,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment report showed on Wednesday. Data for January was revised higher to show 119,000 jobs added instead of 106,000 as previously reported.
Vacancies at US employers retreated at the start of the year but remained historically elevated. The number of available positions decreased to 10.8 million in January from an upwardly revised 11.2 million a month earlier, the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Wednesday.