Sensex, Nifty edge lower; market breadth in favor of seller

The domestic equity benchmarks edged lower in early, dragged down by significant selling in key index pivotals. The Nifty traded tad below the 18,050 level. Barring autos, shares across sectors declined with oil & gas, banks, financials and pharma stocks sliding the most.

At 09:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 198.68 points or 0.33% to 60,780.07. The Nifty 50 index lost 73.40 points or 0.41% to 18,044.90.

Adani Ports (down 3.02%), Adani Enterprises (down 2.31%), Axis Bank (down 0.81%), SBI (down 0.77%) and Dr Reddy's Lab (down 0.75%) were the top Nifty losers.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki (up 0.57%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.47%), Tata Motors (up 0.39%), ICICI Bank (up 0.36%) and Tata Steel (up 0.33%) outperformed.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.51% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.23%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,099 shares rose, and 1,416 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Pidilite Industries fell 2.91%. 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.

Indus Towers slipped 1.52%. The company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 708 crore in Q3 FY23 as compared to net profit of Rs 1571 crore in Q3 FY22. Revenue fell to Rs 6765 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 6927 crore in Q3 FY22.

TVS Motor Company rose 2.12%. 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.

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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