Indices come off day's low; Nifty regains 17,900 mark; IT shares climb

The headline equity indices came off the day's low in afternoon trade. Positive opening in European stock market supported bargain buying back home. The Nifty regained the 17900 mark after hitting the day's low of 17,871.15 in afternoon trade. IT and PSU banks bucked the wider selling pressure. Metals and auto shares tumbled.

At 13:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 30.15 points or 0.05% to 60,231.03. The Nifty 50 index shed 28.90 points or 0.16% to 17,927.70.

Tech Mahindra (up 2.65%), HCL Technologies (up 1.87%), Wipro (up 1.41%), Infosys (up 1.39%) and TCS (up 1.21%) were top Nifty gainers.

Adani Enterprises (down 2.55%), NTPC (down 1.52%), JSW Steel (down 1.44%), Axis Bank (down 1.31%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 1.24%) were major Nifty losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.11% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.12%.

The market breadth turned positive. On the BSE, 1776 shares rose, and 1741 shares fell. A total of 180 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's annual wholesale price index (WPI) inflation for the month of December 2022 eased to 4.95%, at a 22-month low, mainly due to fall in prices of food articles and crude petroleum. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was 5.85% in November 2022 and 14.27% in December 2021.

"Decline in the rate of inflation in December 2022 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, food products, textiles and chemicals & chemical products", the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement today.

Global markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Monday, buoyed by cooling inflation data in the U.S. last week which has lifted investor sentiment. Investors waited nervously to see if the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will defend its super-sized stimulus policy at a pivotal meeting this week, while a holiday in US markets made for thin trading.

Over the weekend, China reported a surge of nearly 60,000 Covid deaths since dropping restrictions last month. On Sunday, the high-speed rail connecting mainland China and Hong Kong reopened for the first time in three years.

US stock market will be closed on Monday, 16 January 2023, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. US stocks ended higher on Friday, with shares of JPMorgan Chase and other banks rising following their quarterly results, which kicked off the earnings season.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey released on Friday showed the one-year inflation outlook fell to 4%, the lowest level since April 2021. December's CPI report showed prices declined 0.1% compared with a month ago, raising hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon slow its rate hikes.

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