The NSE Nifty was down by 0.58 per cent or 127.75 points to 21,615.40 points, while the BSE Sensex was at 71,087, down by 0.67 per cent or 524 points.
A total of 3,202 stocks were actively traded, 1,608 advanced, while 1,504 declined and 90 stocks remained unchanged, where 92 stocks hit a 52-week high and 32 stocks hit a 52-week low at 10 am on Wednesday.
Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “A major catalyst driving the rally in global equity markets has been expectations of a rate cut by the Fed. The Fed had indicated possibly three rate cuts in 2024 and the markets had discounted up to five rate cuts. This was based on the expectation that inflation in the US will continue to trend down. This expectation has received a jolt from the US CPI inflation numbers rising year-on-year to 3.1 per cent against expectations of 2.9 per cent. This means that the Fed will certainly not cut rates in March and the number of rate cuts in 2024 also will be lower. The bond market has quickly responded, with the US 10-year yield shooting up to 4.31 per cent.
The consequence for the Indian market would be heavy selling by FIIs. Banking stocks, which form the largest chunk of FII holding, will be under pressure. The broader market, which is overvalued, will also be impacted by the negative sentiment. Investors could wait and watch forclarity to emerge.”
Major gainers on the NSE at 10 am include Adani Enterprises (0.85%), M&M (0.39%), BPCL (0.27%), ITC (0.21%), Adani Ports (0.17%).
Major losers include Infosys (-2.61%), Tech Mahindra (-2.48%), Wipro (-2.48%), LTI Mindtree (-2.02%), HDFC Bank (-1.91%)
The BSE Smallcap was up by 0.33% and Midcap down by 0.15%. The majority of sectoral indices trade in the red. Nifty IT fell by 1.82 per cent to trade at 37,510.40, Nifty Pharma was down by 1.21 per cent at 18,526.35.