NIFTY50 ends below the 25,000 mark, midcap and smallcap indices face selling pressure

On Wednesday, the frontline benchmark indices SENSEX and NIFTY50 ended the day on a negative note, both down by -0.49%. The Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty PSU Bank were among the top sectoral losers today. The broader market also faced significant selling pressure as midcap and smallcap indices declined -0.17% and -0.81%, respectively.

Shares of Tata Motors and ONGC were among the top losers on the NIFTY50 index. Tata Motors fell as brokerages maintained sell calls and ONGC also tumbled on the back of a sharp fall in crude oil prices. Yesterday, crude oil prices fell sharply as OPEC cut its forecast for global oil demand and trimmed its expectations.

U.S. inflation data, scheduled for release after Indian markets close on Wednesday, is expected to show inflation nearing the Federal Reserve's 2% target. This development may prompt the central bank to weigh a 25-basis-point rate cut at its upcoming meeting next week.

Top Gainers & Losers

In the NIFTY50 space, 16 stocks advanced, and 34 stocks declined. Bajaj Auto (+4.03%), Asian Paints (+2.23%), Bajaj Finance (+1.65%), Shriram Finance (+0.86%), and Britannia (+0.80%) were the top gainers. Laggards included Tata Motors (-5.73%), ONGC (-2.94%), Wipro (-1.85%), L&T (-1.56%), and Adani Enterprise (-1.55%).

Index Movers

Coming to the NIFTY50 index pullers and draggers, Bajaj Auto (+11.14 pts), Bajaj Finance (+7.48 pts), Asian Paints (+7.47 pts), Sun Pharma (+3.54 pts), and Hindustan Unilever (+2.5 pts) were the pullers of the day. Draggers included Tata Motors (-28.1 pts), L&T (-14.8 pts), Reliance Industries (-14.19 pts), SBI (-10.08 pts), and M&M (-8.31 pts).

Broader indices

Today, the broader markets concluded the day in red. The Nifty Midcap 100 declined by -0.17%, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index slipped by -0.81%. Market breadth was weak on Wednesday as the declining stocks outnumbered the advancing stocks.

Sectoral Indices

On Wednesday, all the sectoral indices closed the day on a negative note barring Nifty FMCG (+0.28%), and Nifty Consumer Durables (+0.10%). The top three losers were Nifty Oil & Gas (-1.92%), Nifty PSU Bank (-1.75%), and Nifty Media (-1.50%).

Asian Markets

The key Asian indices closed on a negative note today. The Shanghai index declined by -0.82%, the Kospi fell by -0.40% and the Hang Seng index slipped by -0.72%. Nikkie 225 tumbled the most, down by -1.63%.

As of 3:44 PM, The Dow Jones futures were trading down by -147 points at 40,651.