Nifty hovers below 17,600; Adani Ports tumbles over 18%

The key equity indices traded in a narrow range with heavy losses in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,600 level. Pharma, auto and healthcare shares advanced while oil & gas, PSU bank and metal stocks declined.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 1,041.92 points or 1.73% to 59,163.14. The Nifty 50 index lost 338.85 points or 1.89% to 17,553.10.

Concurrently, The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, zoomed 18.30% to 17.34.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.88% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 2.30%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 641 shares rose, and 2,837 shares fell. A total of 92 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (down 18.22%), Adani Enterprises (down 14.81%), State Bank of India (down 4.29%), ICICI Bank (down 4.24%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 3.66%) were major Nifty losers.

Bajaj Auto (up 6.12%), Tata Motors (up 5.07%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 2.22%), ITC (up 1.81%) and Divi's Laboratories (up 0.79%) were top Nifty gainers.

Bajaj Auto jumped 6.12%. The two-wheeler maker's consolidated net profit rose 3.01% to Rs 1,472.70 crore on 3.29% increase in total revenue from operations to Rs 9,318.54 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Tata Motors advanced 5.07%. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,957.71 crore in Q3 FY23 as against a net loss of Rs 1,516.14 crore in Q3 FY22. Total revenue from operations increased 22.5% YoY to Rs 88,488.59 crore during the quarter.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose 2.22%. The drug major's consolidated net profit jumped 76.52% to Rs 1,247.1 crore on 27.26% rise in revenues to Rs 6,770 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks traded in a mixed manner on Wednesday, taking the lead from Wall Street's struggle for direction as China and Hong Kong markets remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

US stocks ended nominally lower on Tuesday at the close of a rocky session marked by a raft of mixed earnings and a technical malfunction at the opening bell.

The downturn in the US business activity eased slightly in January even as it contracted for the seventh straight month, survey showed on Tuesday. S&P Global said its flash US Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, shot off to 46.6 this month from a final reading of 45 in December.

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