NEW DELHI: India’s equity benchmarks - Sensex and Nifty - ended lower on Thursday, tracking negative Asian cues and weak domestic economic data. The Nifty 50 index managed to settle above the 17,000 level while the Sensex declined 391 points or 0.68% to 57,235.
“Markets continued to witness a tumultuous ride as weak Asian cues came as a dampener although positive European markets helped temper the fall. The gloomy mood due to global economic uncertainty has precipitated the fall in recent sessions,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), at Kotak Securities. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.60% on Thursday while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunged nearly 2%.
Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said retail inflation persisting above the desired levels and declining industrial production in August may not be taken well by the market because Indian economy is anticipated to sustain its resilience. India on Wednesday reported that its consumer price index shot up to 7.41% in September while factory output fell to an 18-month low of 0.8% in August from 2.2% in July.
Against this backdrop, the impending US inflation figures, which are forecasted to remain high, may cause volatility in the global market, he added. Later in the data, the US reported that its retail inflation rose 8.2% in September 2022 from a year ago, more than estimates and tad below August’s 8.3% reading. This, according to experts, gives ample room to the Federal Reserve to go for another round of steep rate hikes, which may prove to be a big negative for the equity market worldwide.
Meanwhile, IT heavyweight Wipro plunged more than 7% to hit a 52-week low of Rs 378 apiece on the BSE on Thursday after it reported a 9% drop in its September quarter net profit to Rs 2,659 crore, weighed down by rising employee expenses and lower earnings from non-US markets.
“Guidance for Q3 (FY23) is disappointing and alludes to slow down. We cut FY23-24 EPS (earnings per share) estimates by 3-5 per cent,” said analysts at Nomura while giving a ‘neutral’ call on the stock with a target price of Rs 380.