Stock Market Today: Indian markets erased morning losses and turned sharply higher on Wednesday as a broad-based rally ensued on Dalal Street. The markets seemed unnerved ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy outcome later tonight, and rather focused on falling bond yields and domestic corporate earnings. At Close, the Sensex was up 547.83 points or 0.99 per cent at 55816.32, and the Nifty was up 158.00 points or 0.96 per cent at 16641.80.
Sun Pharma, Divis Lab, L&TAsian Paints, SBI, TCS, Ultratech Cement, and Grasim led from the front, rising over 2 per cent each. Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Kotak Bank, Reliance Industries, and HDFC Life, on the flipside, were the only losers, down up to 1 per cent.
The rally was across-the-board with the Nifty Pharma and PSB indices climbing over 2 per cent each, followed by the Nifty IT index (up 1.7 per cent), and the Nifty Bank index (1 per cent).
The broader BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices underperformed at the bourses as they advanced up to 0.90 per cent.
Among stocks, Shoppers Stop surged over 10 per cent after the company was back in the black in Q1Fy23, reporting a consolidated net profit of Rs 22.83 crore vs a net loss of Rs 104.89 crore a year ago.
Sanofi India fell 3 per cent. Its Q1 sales declined 11.38 per cent to Rs 699.30 crore, and net profit fell 32.5 per cent to Rs 120.40 crore from a year-ago.
Dr. VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The Fed announcement on interest rates expected late tonight is unlikely to impact equity markets in a big way since the most likely outcome of 75 bp rate hike has been discounted by the markets. The market, which continues to be volatile, is swinging between fears of an imminent US recession on one side and hopes of the US avoiding a sharp economic slowdown on the other. Only time will tell which of the two scenarios will play out. Early Q1 results indicate good performance by companies with leading banks, capital goods, paints, and mid-cap IT delivering impressive numbers. Large-cap IT is facing the brunt of FII selling now on US recession fears impacting the prospects of IT majors. Clarity on where the US economy is moving will decide the valuation of IT stocks. Financials have responded to good Q1 results and reduced FII selling. But there is more room for the segment to move up since credit growth continues to be robust.”
Global Cues
US stocks ended sharply lower Tuesday as a profit warning by Walmart dragged down retail shares and exceptionally weak consumer confidence data also fueled fears about spending.
Tokyo stocks opened lower Wednesday with investors taking cues from a cut to profit estimates by US retail giant Walmart, which helped drag down US markets. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.44 per cent, or 120.43 points, to 27,534.78 in early trade, while the broader Topix index fell 0.31 per cent, or 5.98 points, to 1,937.19.
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