Stock markets remain under pressure amid selling across sectors

New Delhi, Oct 21 (UNI) Indian stock markets on Wednesday remained under pressure throughout the session amid selling across most sectors.

Market was weighed on by elevated crude oil prices and concerns over corporate earnings. At open, the indices were higher and traded in positive territory for the first couple of hours before profit booking in late-morning trade erased the gains.

At close, the Sensex was down 143.21 points or 0.19 percent at 73,709.69, and the Nifty was down 77.60 points or 0.34 percent at 22,811.35. Among the sectors, IT index rose 2.5 percent, while auto, consumer durables, energy, media, metal, pharma, realty, private bank were down 1-2 percent. On Nifty, the gainers included Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HCL Technologies and UltraTech Cement while Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motors, Eternal, BSE, Bajaj Auto were among major losers. In the individual stocks, L&T Technology Services surged 10 percent on better Q2 earnings, while Hindustan Zinc shares were down 2.5 percent post Q2 earnings.

Indian rupee strengthened for the eighth consecutive session gaining 46 paise to close at 94.46 per dollar, compared with the previous close of 94.92. Over 150 stocks touched 52-week low, including Sobha, Muthoot Finance, PI Industries, Yes Bank, SJVN, GMDC, Jupiter Wagons, Trident, Swiggy, Reliance Power, Tube Investment, TVS Holdings, Rashtriya Chemicals, Sammaan Capital, NBCC (India), Bikaji Foods, EID Parry, HDB Financial, KEC International, Voltas, among others. Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited said, "Indian equities gave up strong early gains as elevated crude prices and continued FII selling overshadowed optimism surrounding India-US trade negotiations.

Profit-booking intensified across autos, financials, metals and realty, reflecting concerns over inflation, and margin pressures, while IT showed relative resilience amid improving earnings visibility and renewed investor appetite for the sector." "Resilient Q2 earnings and robust domestic institutional flows remain important market supports, but weak breadth and persistent foreign selling point to continued caution, " he added.

"Near-term direction will depend on the breadth of earnings delivery, progress on trade negotiations and foreign flows, with durable moderation in crude, global yields and currency volatility crucial for market stability," he said.

(UNI) VK AAB