Markets trade flat amidst volatility; Nifty slips below 18,650

Indian stock markets are trading with volatility in the Friday afternoon session as consumables and IT stocks are weighing down the charts despite an improved investor sentiment on a possible pause in interest rate hikes. Interest-rate sensitive stocks booked profit following RBI’s decision.

On the sectoral front, Nifty FMCG is the worst-performing index, followed by the IT stocks. Nifty Bank and Realty are holding firm ground. All other sectoral indices are trading on the downside.

At around 1.00 PM, BSE Sensex is trading 86 points lower at Rs 62,762. NSE Nifty is down by 28 points at 18,606.

IndusInd Bank (+2.09%) led the gainers on the nifty index today. Axis Bank (+1.27%), Grasim (+1.12%), Larsen & Toubro (+0.90%), and SBI Life (+0.80%) are trading about 1% higher.

Among the top laggards were Hindustan Unilever (-1.99%), joined by SBI (-1.82%). Tata Steel (-1.71%), HDFC Life (-1.62%), and ONGC (-1.38%) are the other laggards on nifty today.

A total of 25 stocks advanced on the nifty index today, and 25 stocks declined.

Globally, after data showed weekly jobless claims hit a 1-1/2-year high, signalling a cooling economy, Wall Street and Asian equities rose as the odds of a rate pause at the Fed’s upcoming meeting on June 14 increased to 75% from 66%.