Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Thursday, following heavy selling in Capital Goods, Banking and Financial Services due to inflation and growth concerns. weak rupee and rising crude prices also impacted the market sentiment. For the ninth month in a row, retail inflation has remained above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tolerance level of 6%. Also, industrial growth in India, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slipped to an 18-month low of -0.8% in August from 2.2% in July.

“A small negative candle was formed on the daily chart, which has placed beside the positive candle of the previous session. After a sharp weakness of October 11, the market has been showing a rangebound action with weak bias in the last two sessions,” Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities said.

Shetti feels the underlying trend of Nifty remains choppy and the market is not showing any strength to sustain the highs. There is a possibility of one more dip down to 16,800-16,750 levels in the next few sessions before showing any meaningful upside bounce from the lows.

Immediate resistance is placed at 17,150 levels, the market expert said.

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Indian Indices

The Sensex fell 390.58  points or 0.68% to 57,235.33 while the Nifty tumbled 109.25  points or 0.64% to 17,014.35 at the close of trading on Thursday. The Sensex moved in a high and low band of high and low of 57,568.14 and 57,055.75. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. The Nifty traded in a range of 17,112.35 and 16,956.95. There were 12 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks on the index were stable.

Broader Indices

The broader indices ended in red with the BSE MidCap index up by 0.73% and the SmallCap index up by 0.45%. There were only two gaining sectoral indices on the BSE, Healthcare was up by 0.17% and Metal was up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Capital Goods was down by 1.22%, Bankex was down by 1.21%, Financial Services was down by 1.13%, Realty was down by 1.08% and Industrials by 0.98%.

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India VIX Index

Nifty or India VIX, a gauge of the market’s expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 0.57% to 20.29 on Thursday.

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 242 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,199.0 on the Singaporean Exchange at around 6:55 hours IST.

Support and Resistance levels

The key support level for the Nifty is placed at 16,943, followed by 16,872. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,099 and 17,183, according to pivot charts.

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US Markets 

The S&P 500 rose 92.88 points, or 2.6%, to 3,669.91 on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 827.87 points, or 2.8%, to 30,038.72.

The Nasdaq rose 232.05 points, or 2.2%, to 10,649.15.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 40.65 points, or 2.4%, to 1,728.41.

Asian Markets

Asian markets ended lower on Thursday. Shanghai Composite was 0.30% down, followed by Hang Sang which fell 1.87%, KOSPI Composite and Nikkei 225 were down by 1.80% and 0.60% respectively.

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European Markets

European markets finished broadly higher yesterday with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX was up 1.51% while France’s CAC 40 was up 1.04% and London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.35%.

Major Headlines

US CPI Inflation eased to 8.2% in September, core index hits new four-decade high

Inflation in the United States eased to 8.2% in September on a yearly basis from 8.3% in the previous month, while underlying prices excluding energy and food rose to a new four-decade high.

As gasoline prices fell, inflation dropped from its June peak. However, costs for housing, medical care, utilities, and other items have continued to rise, threatening to keep inflation high for an extended period of time.

The core CPI, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, gained 6.6% in September from a year earlier, accelerating from 6.3% in August and marking the biggest increase since August 1982.  On a monthly basis, the core index rose 0.6% in September, the same as in August.

Infosys Q2 Results: Net profit rises 11% YoY, shares buyback announced

Infosys Limited, India’s second-largest IT services company, on October 13, 2022, reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 6,021 for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, up 11.1% from Rs 5,421 crore reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Revenue from operations stood at Rs 36,538 crore, reported a 23.4% growth over Rs 29,602 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Infosys’ Board of directors also declared an interim dividend of Rs 16.50 per share, an increase of 10% over the financial year 2022 interim dividend. The total amount of the interim dividend will be around Rs 6,940 crore.

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Bulk Deal data

Moneywise Financial Services Private Limited bought 1,74,000 shares in Frog Cellsat Limited at Rs 177.00 per share on the NSE.

Caprize Investments LLP bought 2,00,000 shares in SKP Bearing Industri. Ltd at Rs 150.00 per share on the NSE.

GG Engineering Limited bought 43,00,000 shares in Integra Essentia Limited at Rs 5.90 per share on the NSE.

B.W.Traders bought 1,10,493 shares in Apollo Micro Systems Ltd at Rs 213.40  per share on the NSE.

India Equity Fund 1 sold 1,34,400 shares in Frog Cellsat Limited at Rs 168.40 per share on the NSE.

Also Read: US stocks tumble after hot CPI inflation report

DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold shares worth a net of Rs 1,636.43 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth a net of Rs 753.29 crore on October 13, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

NSE F&O Ban

Delta Corp Ltd and Indiabulls Housing Finance have been placed under the F&O ban for October 14. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.