Nifty hovers near 17,900; Adani Ports tumbles over 6%

The key equity indices traded in a narrow range with heavy losses in the afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered near the 17,900 level. All the sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the red. Trading could be volatile on account of monthly options expiry.

At 13:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 714.18 points or 1.17% to 60,264.57. The Nifty 50 index lost 212.90 points or 1.18% to 17,905.40.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.38% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.86%.

Seller outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 982 shares rose, and 2,437 shares fell. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (down 6.11%), State Bank of India (down 3.90%), HDFC Bank (down 2.71%), IndusInd Bank (down 2.57%) and Adani Enterprises (down 2.47%) were major Nifty losers.

Hindustan Unilever (up 1.29%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.24%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.22%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.41%) and Bajaj Auto (up 0.36%) were top Nifty gainers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

TVS Motor Company jumped 4.69% after the auto maker reported 22% rise in standalone net profit to Rs 353 crore on a 15% increase in revenue to Rs 6,545 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Pidilite Industries fell 2.90%. The adhesives maker reported consolidated net profit of Rs 307.74 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 359.24 crore in Q3 FY22. Total income rose to Rs 3002.72 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 2855.89 crore in Q3 FY22.

United Spirits tumbled 5.01%. The spirits maker's standalone net profit tumbled 64.45% to Rs 110.5 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 310.8 crore posted in Q3 FY22.

Macrotech Developers shed 0.61%. On a consolidated basis, the real estate developer's net profit jumped 41.41% to Rs 404.98 crore despite of 13.87% surge in net sales to Rs 1,773.80 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Global Markets:

Most of Asian stocks traded higher 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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