Market drops for 3rd day; Nifty settles below 17,900; IT shares tumble

The key equity indices ended with deep cuts on Friday, extending losses for the third straight session. The Nifty closed below the 17,900 mark after hitting day's high of 18,047.40 in morning trade. Consumer durables and FMCG shares advanced while IT, media and private bank shares declined.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 452.90 points or 0.75% to 59,900.37. The Nifty 50 index lost 132.70 points or 0.74% to 17,859.45. In three consecutive sessions, the Sensex shed 3.47% while the Nifty fell 2.27%.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.72% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index both declined 0.73%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,433 shares rose and 2,072 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

Investors awaited the release of U.S. jobs data and flash euro zone consumer price index inflation figures that are due later in the day.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index fell 2% to 27,956.45. The index declined 3.47% in the three trading sessions.

Tata Consultancy Services (down 2.96%), Tech Mahindra (down 2.57%), Persistent Systems (down 1.95%), Infosys (down 1.89%), Mphasis (down 1.84%), Wipro (down 1.33%), LTI Mindtree (down 1.22%), Coforge (down 1.07%), HCL Technologies (down 1.02%) and L&T Technology Services (down 0.37%) slipped.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Ambuja Cements fell 0.92%. The company has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary company in the name of 'Ambuja Resources' on 5 January 2023 for manufacturing of cement & allied product, alternate fuel and power generation.

Dabur India slipped 3.51%. The FMCG major on Friday announced that its India business is expected to report low to mid-single digit revenue growth, however, the international business is expected to deliver double-digit revenue growth in Q3 FY23.

Macrotech Developers declined 2.03%. The company said that it had achieved pre-sales of Rs 3,035 crore in Q3 FY23, thereby recording a growth of 16.3% on a YoY basis. The real estate developer's pre-sales in the same period last year were Rs 2,608 crore. The company's 9M FY23 pre-sales stood at Rs 9,039 crore, up by 62.3% from Rs 5,568 crore recorded in 9M FY22.

IIFL Finance slipped 1.69%. The NBFC said that it will open a public issue of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on 6 January 2023, to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore.

Larsen & Toubro were up 0.48%. The EPC major on Thursday announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, L&T Realty Developers has entered into an agreement to sell its entire stake of 99% in Think Tower Developers (TTDPL) for Rs 1 lakh.

Zydus Lifesciences were down 0.91%. Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA) Inc., a subsidiary of Zydus Lifesciences has launched Topiramate extended-release capsules in the US.

Rail Vikas Nigam rose 0.56% after the company said that it has received an order worth Rs 166 crore from Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) for supply and commissioning of ballastless track for Surat Metro Rail project under Phase-1.

Sobha advanced 2.46% after the company's total sales value improved by 36% to Rs 1,424.7 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 1,047.5 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Global markets:

Shares in Europe advanced while Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Friday as investors digested key euro zone inflation data and now awaited for crucial U.S. jobs data later in the day that should provide clues on how aggressive the Federal Reserve will be in tightening policy.

Inflation in the euro zone slides to 9.2% year on year, dropping for second consecutive month in December. In November, inflation rate was at 10.1%, which represented the first slight contraction in prices since June 2021.

After France, Germany and Italy all reported better-than-expected slowdowns over the course of the week, investors are hopeful that inflation has passed its peak across the 20-member common currency bloc.

Such an eventuality could pave the way for the European Central Bank to temper its aggressive monetary policy tightening cycle and limit the continent's economic pain.

The Wall Street's main indices lost more than 1% on Thursday as evidence of a tight labor market eroded hopes that the Federal Reserve could pause its rating hiking cycle anytime soon as it keeps focused on inflation.

U.S. private payrolls increased more than expected in December. The U.S. ADP private payrolls report showed employers added 235,000 jobs in December. Data for November was unrevised to show 127,000 jobs added.

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