Sensex Down 171 pts At Close, Nifty Settles Below 18,350; Zomato Tanks 4%, FMCG Index Slips Over 1%

Sensex Today: Indian shares were muted on Monday as investors awaited inflation data, due later in the day, for clues on the central bank’s interest rate trajectory and ahead of a slew of corporate earnings reports. The BSE Sensex was down 154 points to 61,640, while the NSE Nifty eased 12 points to 18,340.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were mixed.

From sectors, the Nifty Media index was the top laggard, down nearly 2 per cent, followed by the Nifty FMCG index (down 0.6 per cent). While IT and Metal packs held firm gains of up to 2 per cent.

Among individual stocks, LIC rallied 7 per cent after the company posted 11 times higher profit in Q2 over the last year.

Zee Entertainment, on the other hand, slipped nearly 4 per cent on weak Q2 performance. The company reported a 58 per cent YoY decline in profit at Rs 112.8 crore for the quarter.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “Although there were favourable domestic indicators, the market was under pressure due to weakness in the US and other Asian markets. India’s wholesale inflation dropped below forecasts, aided by a slowdown in the prices of manufactured goods and fuel & electricity. The domestic CPI, which is anticipated to continue the trend, will boost confidence in the Indian market as it will lessen the risk indicators for the RBI to maintain its hawkish stance.”

Global Cues

Asian share markets were mixed on Monday as a top US central banker warned investors against getting carried away over one inflation number, while Chinese stocks gained on signs of aid for the hard-hit property sector.

Tokyo stocks traded lower Monday despite overnight gains on Wall Street, with investors locking in profits after an upbeat end to last week. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index opened higher but was down 0.24 percent, or 68.08 points, at 28,195.49 in morning trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.44 percent, or 8.64 points, at 1,969.12.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended sharply higher on Friday, extending a rally started the day before after a soft inflation reading raised hopes the Federal Reserve would get less aggressive with U.S. interest rate hikes.

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