Nifty settles below 19750, Sensex at 66230 following Hawkish stance by the Fed chair

Nifty settles below 19750, Sensex at 66230 following Hawkish stance by the Fed chair

Ira Singh
21 Sep’23

The Indian equity benchmark indices ended lower for the third straight day on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve maintained the status quo in its policy meeting but indicated that interest rates will remain higher for longer.

Continued selling by foreign institutional investors (FII) and elevated crude oil prices remained a concern. Weakness in global markets also hit the mood back on Dalal Street.

At close,the Sensex was down 570.60 points, or 0.85 percent, to 66,230.24, while the broader Nifty 50 slumped 159.05 points, or 0.8 percent, to 19,742.35

Stocks and Sectors

Auto stocks saw profit booking ahead of monthly sales data while banks slipped on concerns related to margins with ICICI Bank being the top loser. PSU banks saw a fall with strong volumes, with SBI slipping below the Rs 300-mark.

Barring Nifty Media that closed marginally in green, all other sectoral indices bled. Nifty PSU Bank, which has been a standout performer in the last one month or so, was the biggest loser during the day, falling 2.28 percent. Nifty Auto, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services ended lower by about 1.5 percent each.

Besides,Adani Ports was the top gainer, rising 1.74 percent among Nifty 50. Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel were other big gainers adding over 1 percent each, while M&M was the top loser in the pack, down about 3 percent. ICICI Bank, Cipla, SBI, IndusInd Bank and UltraTech Cement followed with cuts in the range of 2-3 percent as well.

Broader market performed even worse. Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 1.34 percent while Nifty Midcap 100 0.89 percent. Bse 590, the broadest index on NSE, dropped 0.84 percent.

On 21 Sep’23,the Indian rupee settled 5 paise higher at 83.06 against the US dollar as crude oil price receded from its elevated level. The rupee was also weighed down by a rising dollar index, following hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials, forex traders said.

Experts Take:
Market experts have recommended five stocks to buy for Thursday-AU Small Finance Bank, Sun Pharma, M&M Finance, Indian Bank and Coal India Ltd.

“Bearish sentiment across the global equities led to selling in the domestic market for the third straight session as investors fretted over the US Fed statement indicating one more rate hike later this year,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.”Other negative catalysts like lingering overseas fund outflows, rising US Dollar index and treasury yields, and higher crude oil prices are making investors jittery.”