The headline equity indices traded with steep cuts and hit a fresh intraday low in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 17,800 mark. IT and media stocks were in demand while bank, realty and financial services shares witnessed a bit of a selling pressure.
At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 662.87 points or 1.10% to 59,635.13. The Nifty 50 index lost 199.85 points or 1.11% to 17,756.65.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 1.20% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.82%.
The market breadth was weak. On the NSE, 1,265 shares rose and 2,015 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.
Meanwhile, investors continued to assess the Fed's Wednesday minutes, while data indicated that the U.S. economy remained relatively strong. Most traders peg a higher chance of the Fed adopting another 50 bps rate hike in September than a 75 bps one.
Economy:
The union government on Thursday (18 August) reduced the windfall tax on sale of locally produced crude oil to Rs 13,000 per tonne from Rs 17,750 a tonne earlier. The special additional excise duty on export of diesel has been increased from Rs 5 to Rs 6 per litre, and including a cess it would be Rs 7 per litre.
Besides, the government again imposed Rs 2 per litre tax on export of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) after scrapping it earlier this month. Export of petrol will continue without the levy of the windfall tax. The new changes will come into effect from 19 August 2022, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBIC) said in its notification.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, gained 4.58% to 18.15. The Nifty 25 August 2022 futures were trading at 17,790.25, at a premium of 33.6 points as compared with the spot at 17,756.65.
The Nifty option chain for the 25 August 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 127.9 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 57.3 lakh contracts were seen at 17,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Auto index fell 1.11% to 12,986.75, extending its losing run to the third session. The index declined nearly 2% in three trading sessions.
Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.97%), Tata Motors (down 1.87%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.58%), Balkrishna Industries (down 1.52%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.19%), Escorts Kubota (down 0.92%), Bharat Forge (down 0.77%), Bosch (down 0.41%), TVS Motor Company (down 0.3%) and MRF (down 0.24%) declined.
On the other hand, Sona BLW Precision Forgings (up 0.84%), Ashok Leyland (up 0.61%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.5%) edged higher.
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