Midday report: Sensex falls 401 points, Nifty down 139 points

Indian equity benchmarks
continued to trade lower in the afternoon session in anticipation of a big rate
hike by the US Federal Reserve. Sentiments were weak as retail inflation for
farm and rural workers increased to 6.94% and 7.26%, respectively, in August
mainly due to higher prices of certain food items. Stocks from Fast moving
Consumer Goods (FMCG) counters were the only sector that showcased resilience,
while stocks from Utilities, Power, and PSU counters emerged as the laggards of
the sector.

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The Sensex was trading at
59,318.71, down by 401.03 points or 0.67% after trading in the range of
59,275.40 and 59,799.04. On the index, 11 stocks were advancing and 19 stocks
declining.

The broader indices were
trading in red with the BSE Mid cap index down by 0.73% and the Small cap index
down by 0.85%. The only gaining sector on the BSE was FMCG was up by 0.66%,
while Utilities were down by 2.11%, Power down by 1.95%, PSU down by 1.18%,
Bankex down by 1.18%, and Realty was down by 1.12% were the top losing indices
on BSE.

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The top gainers on the
Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.90%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.61%, Reliance
Industries up by 0.55%, ITC up by 0.36%, and Nestle up by 0.26%. On the flip
side, Indusind Bank fell 2.11%, NTPC 1.16%, Power Grid Corp 1.12%, HDFC 1.02%
and SBI 0.85%.

The Nifty was trading at
17,676.95, down by 139.30 points or 0.78% after trading in the range of
17,667.20 and 17,838.70. On the index, there were 7 stocks advancing and 43
stocks declining.

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The top gainers on Nifty
were Britannia Inds up by 3.44%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.91%, Apollo
Hospital up by 1.27%, Reliance Industries up by 0.57%, and Nestle up by 0.40%.
Adani Ports down by 4.25%, Shree Cement down by 3.63%, Indusind Bank down by
2.99%, ONGC down by 1.91%, and NTPC down by 1.22% were the top losers.

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Asian markets were trading
mostly in red with the Hang Seng decreasing 227.93 points or 1.21% to
18,553.49, Jakarta Composite losing 42.46 points or 0.59% to 7,154.49, Nikkei
225 slipping 375.29 points or 1.36% to 27,313.13, Taiwan Weighted dropping
124.78 points or 0.86% to 14,424.52 and KOSPI down by 20.64 points or 0.87% to
2,347.21. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 0.53 points or 0.02% to
3,267.47, and Shanghai Composite was up by 5.15 points or 0.16% to 3,127.56.