Markets trade lower; Sensex near 60,500, Nifty 50 holds over 18k; IT stocks worst hit; Bajaj twins, Tata Steel top bulls; Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro drag

19 Jan 2022 , 12:38 PM

Indian markets traded in the red on Wednesday's opening bell due to a broad-based profit booking across sectoral indices. The equities also tracked weak global cues as the prospects of hiking interest rates sooner-than-expected by central banks to control inflationary pressure, weighs on markets. Back at home, IT stocks were worst hit with pharma stocks also witnessing a substantial downside.

AGS Transact Technologies IPO will be opening today at a price band of Rs166-175 per equity share.

Investors will focus on major Q3 earnings like Bajaj Auto, ICICI Lombard and L&T Infotech among others. Further, stocks like Bajaj Finance, L&T Technology Services, Tata Elxsi and ICICI Prudential will see significant movements after their Q3FY22 financial performance.

At around 10.04 am, Sensex was trading at 60,450.73 down by 304.13 points or 0.50%. The benchmark has touched a high of 60,870.17 and a low of 60,194.94 respectively.

Nifty 50 performed at 18,043.80 lower by 69.25 points or 0.38%. The benchmark has clocked the day's high and low of 18,129.20 and 17,950.25.

In terms of sectoral indices on BSE, the IT index nosedived by 580 points, while the Healthcare and Bankex index slipped by 195 points and 120 points.

Top bulls on Sensex were - Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid and Axis Bank.

Top bears on  Sensex were - Infosys, Asian Paint, HCL Tech, Wipro, Ultratech Cement, Kotak Bank and Sun Pharma shedding between 1-2%.

Other companies set to announce Q3 today are - JSW Energy, Aptech, CCL Products (India), Ceat, Chembond Chemicals, Continental Securities, DRC Systems India, Orient Green Power Company, JSW Ispat Special Products, Mastek, Nelco, Oracle Financial Services Software, Rallis India, Saregama India, Sterlite Technologies, Syngene International, Tata Communications, Tata Investment Corporation, Tejas Networks, Trident Texofab, and TT Limited.

On the global front, Asian stocks lost momentum and were trading lower with Japan's Nikkei 225 nosediving by more than 2%, while Australia's S&P/ASX and South Korea's KOSPI diving around 1% each. China's Shanghai Composite index dipped marginally, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng traded flat but in green.

Overnight, on Wall Street, US markets start the week with the worst day in 2022 as Dow Jones tanks over 500 points while Nasdaq falls over 350 points. The bond yield hit pre-pandemic highs @ 1.87% with the 2 year bond yields hitting 2% for the 1st time in over 2 years. Crude rises to 7-year highs as colder weather & rise in demand sees prices rise sharply.