Sensex Sheds Over 200 Points; HDFC, Hindustan Unilever Trade Weak

The domestic stock markets have opened on a cautious note, post the nearly one per cent decline in the previous session, in line with lacklustre cues from the global front. At 9:17 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 48,892.16, lower by 262.88 points or 0.50 per cent and NSE Nifty was at 14,795.05, down 52.45 points or 0.35 per cent. The broader markets are outperforming their largecap counterparts for the second consecutive day, with the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index gaining 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.

Asian shares languished near one-month lows on Wednesday as investors speculated surging commodity prices and growing inflationary pressure in the United States could lead to earlier rate hikes and higher bond yields globally.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 per cent, after tumbling 1.6 per cent on Tuesday for its biggest daily percentage drop since March 24. Australia shares skidded 0.4 per cent, while South Korea's KOSPI index slipped 0.1 per cent.

U.S. stocks hit a one-month low on Tuesday as speculation that rising inflation pressure could prompt interest rate hikes sooner rather than later dragged on shares and hobbled the dollar, which hovered near a 2-1/2-month low. The Nasdaq Composite ended little changed, while the Dow Jones dropped 1.4 per cent. The S&P 500 fell 0.9 per cent, off a one-month low struck earlier Tuesday.

Meanwhile, oil prices rose on Tuesday, as lingering fears of gasoline shortages due to the outage at the largest U.S. fuel pipeline system after a cyber attack brought futures back from an early drop of more than 1 per cent. Brent crude futures rose 35 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $68.67 a barrel by 1:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 49 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $65.41.

On the corporate earnings front, Asian Paints, Lupin, Apollo Tyres and Tata Power will declare their Q4 numbers during the day.

On the stock-specific front, HDFC, M&M, Hindustan Unilever and Tech Mahindra have shed between 1 per cent and 2 per cent each to top the losers list on the BSE. Shree Cement, Kotak Mahindra Bank and TCS are the other substantial loseers among the BSE stocks. 

On the other hand, NTPC, Powergrid and Tata Motors have gained around 2-3 per cent each on the BSE.

The BSE market breath is strong. Out of 2,276 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1,515 advancing stocks as against 670 declines.