Nifty slides below 17,900 level; oil & gas stocks tumble

The domestic equity barometers declined further and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. Weak global cues and sluggish growth outlook of companies spooked investors. The Nifty slipped below the 17,900 level. Oil & gas stocks extended their decline for second day in a row.

At 11:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 816.68 points or 1.34% to 60,162.07. The Nifty 50 index lost 247.45 points or 1.37% to 17,870.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.53% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.11%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 845 shares rose, and 2445 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell 1.35% to 8,483.50. The index has declined 1.73% in two sessions.

Adani Total Gas (down 3.33%), Gujarat State Petronet (down 2.2%), Indraprastha Gas (down 1.8%), Oil India (down 1.46%) and Reliance Industries (down 0.96%) were the top losers.

Among the other losers were GAIL (India) (down 0.93%), Petronet LNG (down 0.85%), Mahanagar Gas (down 0.85%), Castrol India (down 0.8%) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 0.46%).

Meanwhile, Aegis Logistics (up 0.67%) and Gujarat Gas (up 0.17%) turned up.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Laxmi Organic Industries fell 2.87%. The company's consolidated net profit slumped 61.4% to Rs 27.23 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 70.54 crore reported in Q3 FY22.

Macrotech Developers shed 0.53%. 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.

United Spirits tumbled 4.01%. 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.

CarTrade Tech added 3.77%. The company's consolidated adjusted net profit rose 15% to Rs 24.05 crore on 9% increase in net revenue from operations to Rs 93.71 crore in Q3 December 2022 over Q3 December 2021.

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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