After Tuesday’s splendid rally, the Indian stock market witnessed sluggish movements on Wednesday with investors largely staying away on the sidelines, choosing to wait for the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting.The Fed is widely expected to hike interest rates, but the post meeting press conference of Fed Chair Janet Yellen is eagerly awaited as that might give some insight about what to look for from the central bank in the foreseeable future. Data showing India’s wholesale price inflation and retail inflation to have accelerated at faster-than-expected pace in January weighed on sentiment. According to data released by the government after trading hours on Tuesday, India’s inflation accelerated faster-than-expected in February, rising 3.65% (y-o-y) after rising 3.17% in the previous month.Food price inflation climbed to 2.01% from 0.61%. Clothing and footwear prices were up 4.51% and housing costs grew 4.9%, while fuel and light charges rose 3.9% in the month. Another data released earlier on Tuesday showed wholesale price inflation to have accelerated to 6.55% in February, from 5.25% a month earlier. The BSE benchmark Sensex ended down 44.52 points or 0.15% at 29,398.11, while the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange ended at 9084.80, losing 2.20 points or 0.02%.Automobile and PSU bank stocks had a good outing. FMCG, metal, healthcare and realty stocks ended on a mixed note.IT stocks declined on stronger rupee. Midcap and smallcap stocks outperformed. The market breadth was even.Tata Steel, Hero Motocorp, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports and HDFC gained 0.4% – 1.3%.Idea Cellular ended nearly 10% up on strong buying at the counter after the company came out with attractive new plans. BHEL gained 3.4% and Bank of Baroda ended 3.3% up. Aurobindo Pharma, Tata Power, Tata Motors DVR, Kotak Bank, Grasim Industries and Bosch also ended on a positive note.Tata Consultancy Services declined 2.4% and Infosys ended lower by 2.2%. Wipro declined 1.3% and HCL Technologies ended 1.4% down. MindTree and Tata Elxsi also ended notably lower, while Tech Mahindra declined marginally.Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Coal India, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, ONGC, Ambuja Cements, Power Grid Corporation, Asian Paints and Mahindra & Mahindra ended weak.
December 19, 2024
