SENSEX, NIFTY50 edge lower dragged down by HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank; IT stocks outperform

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Wednesday, October 14, dragged down by losses in index heavyweights line HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Eternal and State Bank of India, However, the downside was capped owing to buying interest in IT heavyweights such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra.

As of 9:23 am, the SENSEX was down 7 points at 73,026 and NIFTY50 index slipped 11 points to 22,710.

Asian shares were trading higher as the chip selloff that rattled Asian markets eased on Wednesday, while gains were capped owing to a surge in oil prices.

Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.6%, China's Shanghai Composite index gained 0.15%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading on a flat note while South Korea's KOSPI surged 1.4%.

Overnight, US stocks ended lower on Tuesday as chip stocks added to recent losses and investors parsed mixed quarterly results from Citigroup and other ‌big US banks, news agency Reuters reported. Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.35%, S&P 500 index declined 0.02% and tech heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.15%.

Brent crude futures for delivery in December surged close to $107 per barrel after reports suggested that administrative office of Saudi Aramco was attacked in the eastern city of Dhahran, causing a limited fire, the Energy Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Back home, 11 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Pharma index's 1.13% fall. NIFTY Pharma, Financial Services, Realty, Consumer Durables, PSU Bank, Metal, Auto and Bank indices also fell between 0.3% and 1.03%.

On the other hand, NIFTY IT index was top sectoral gainer, the index rose for a second straight session, and it gained 1.32% in intraday deals.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index fell 0.4% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 0.12%.

Among the individual shares, Transformers and Rectifiers India Limited (TARIL) shares climbed as much as 14% to an intraday high of ₹350 after its net profit in September quarter rose 135% to ₹80 crore ₹34 crore in the same period last year.

The firm’s revenue from operations grew 61% to ₹739 crore in the September quarter, as against ₹460 crore registered in the year-ago period.

The company’s operating profit, also known as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), jumped to ₹128 crore as compared to ₹52 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Tata Elxsi advanced as much as 7.75% to an intraday high of ₹3,692 after its net profit declined by 0.2% to ₹170 crore at the end of September quarter as against ₹170.6 crore in the previous quarter.

The design and technology services provider’s revenue from operations increased 3.4% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to ₹1,056 crore in Q2 FY26 in contrast to ₹1,021 crore in the previous quarter of the current financial year. In constant currency (CC) terms, the revenue from operations rose 2.3%.

Shriram Finance was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 2.2% to ₹967. Dr Reddy's Labs, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Eicher Motors, HDFC Life, Bajaj Finserv, Larsen & Toubro, Eternal, Power Grid, Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco and Power Grid also fell between 0.8% and 1.3%.

On the flip side, TCS, Coal India, Infosys, Nestle India, Tata Consumer Products, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Technologies, BSE, Ultratech Cement, Maruti Suzuki and Bharat Electronics were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,011 shares were advancing while 984 were declining on the NSE.