Stock Market updates: Sensex rises 366 pts, Nifty ends above 17,250

The 30-share index plunged 6.23 per cent to 57,491.51 on January 24 from 61,308.91 on January 17. Likewise, the 50-share NSE Nifty index also tanked 6.33 per cent to 17,149.10 during the same period.

Amid the sell-off, the combined market value of BSE-listed firms declined by Rs 19.52 lakh crore to Rs 260.50 lakh crore from Rs 280.02 lakh crore on January 17. Market watchers believe that weak global cues, heavy selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and risk-off sentiment across the globe amid fear of tightening by the US Fed dampened the mood in the domestic equity market.

Here's a look at the updates of the market action on BSE and NSE today.

3: 35 pm: Closing update

Sensex closes 366 points higher at 57,858 and Nifty rises 128 poinst to 17,277.

3:11 pm: Budget expectations

Ramesh Narasimhan, CEO Designate, Worldline India said, " The government and the central bank have taken numerous steps to boost digital payments, expand the reach in the hinterland of the country. The Union Budget of 2021 earmarked Rs 1500 cr to promote digital modes of payment. Until now, it is the urban population that accounts for the bulk of digital payments. The government should allocate more funds to connect the rural areas of the country to the mainline digital payment modes, help develop the infra for payments in offline mode to tap the 44 cr strong base of feature phone users. Likewise, the budget looks at ways to incentivize digital payments by MSMEs and B2B payment segments."

2: 42 pm: Market update: Indices turn positive

Sensex rises 225 pts to 57,717 and Nifty trading 86 points higher at 17,235.

2:39 pm: Maruti Suzuki stock hits all-time high

The stock gained 6.25% to hit all-time high of Rs 8550 post Q3 earnings. Maruti Suzuki posted a 48% year-on-year fall in standalone net profit for the quarter ended 31 December, 2021, as a global chip shortage slowed production and high material costs squeezed margins.

2:30 pm: SBI Cards shares rise 5% post strong Q3 earnings

Share of SBI Cards & Payment Services rose 5% today after the arm of country's largest lender State Bank of India reported a 83.8 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended December 31. SBI Cards & Payment Services stock gained 4.9% intra day to Rs 854 against the previous close of Rs 814.10 on BSE. The stock has gained after 7 days of consecutive fall. The share rose 4.9% to hit an intraday high of Rs 854 on BSE.

1: 27 pm: Afternoon update

Market turns flat. Sensex down 7 points to 57,484 and Nifty gains 14 points to 17,163.

1: 12 pm: Gainers and losers

Asian Paints, Titan, Wipro, Reliance and Bajaj FinServ are the top Sensex losers, falling up to 2.17%. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 15 are trading higher. Axis Bank, SBI, Bharti Airtel and IndusInd bank are the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 5.80%.

12: 55 pm: Budget expectations

Tanushree Banerjee, co-head of research, Equitymaster said, "The expectations from this year's Budget are primarily on the tax sops for medium and long-term savings products. These will help channelise the excess liquidity into safer asset classes. Also new economy sectors like fintech, green energy and electric vehicles could see an inclusion in Budget proposals. Investors should, however, not speculate on such Budget expectations for their stock picking. Betting on the Budget proposal for capital infusion into PSU banks could be risky and speculative."

12: 18 pm: Market update

Sensex down 273 points to 57,217 and Nifty loses 70 points to 17,079. Asian Paints, Titan, Reliance Industries and Wipro are the top Sensex losers, falling up to 2.24%.

11:50 am: Zomato shares zoom 9%

Shares of Zomato were trading 9 per cent higher on BSE. The stock was under tremendous selling pressure on Monday and crashed 19 per cent to hit an all-time low of Rs 92.25 on BSE.

After Zomato was impacted massively by the bear run on Dalal Street, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said in a letter to his employees that the company does not have much to worry about except execution and that he is confident about Zomato’s overall strategy as a business.
 
“I am confident about our overall strategy as a business. Let’s continue executing… creating value, cutting costs, and like always, not look at the stock price. We are adequately capitalised and don’t have much to worry about except execution,” Goyal said in his email to his employees.

11:25 am: Rupee slips 7 paise to 74.67

The rupee declined 7 paise to 74.67 against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on January 25 weighed down by the strength of the American currency and muted domestic equities.

Forex traders said geopolitical tensions, sustained foreign fund outflows and elevated crude oil prices also dragged down the local unit.

Further, investors will also await the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this week.

11:15 am: Infosys in focus

IT services bellwether Infosys announced corporate social responsibility (CSR) collaboration with Tennis Australia to drive new digital learning and accessibility initiatives creating viable pathways to provide learning and education to under-represented communities. This CSR collaboration is a part of Infosys and Tennis Australia’s Digital Innovation Partnership which was extended till 2026.
 
Prior to this, Infosys has also worked with Tennis Australia on the Aces for Bushfire Relief in 2020 and built an AO Virtual Hub in 2021 to enable tournament access digitally.

10:45 am: Vodafone Idea in focus

Shares of Vodafone Idea were trading higher after the telecom operator Vodafone Idea is likely to raise mobile services rates this year. But the operator says it depends on the market reaction to the increase in tariff that the company made in November.

During the earnings call, Vodafone Idea MD and CEO Ravinder Takkar said that the minimum price of Rs 99 set by the company for a month-long service is an inexpensive proposition for those who are using 4G services.

"We would expect that there could be another price hike in 2022, but certainly, at some point, the price hike will take place. The last one was almost two years earlier, which I believe is a bit long. We certainly would expect less than two years, but in 2022 we will have to see how quickly these prices get embedded. Probably, it could be 2023 as well," Takkar said.

10:30 am: Bharti Airtel shares gain 2%

Bharti Airtel stock rose over 2% in early trade today after the telecom major said its board would meet on Friday to consider and evaluate a fundraising proposal through the preferential issue of shares.

The stock rose 2.92 per cent to Rs 709.80 against the previous close of Rs 689.60 on BSE. The telecom stock has risen 20.35% in one year and gained 2.32% since the beginning of this year. The large-cap stock has gained after 2 days of consecutive fall.

10:10 am: Axis Bank shares gain 4%

Shares of Axis Bank were trading 4 per cent higher after the lender reported a 224 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in its net profit to Rs 3,614 crore for the October-December quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, the private sector lender's profit registered a 15 per cent growth.

The bank's net interest income (NII) rose 17 per cent YoY and 10 per cent QoQ to Rs 8,653 crore, while net interest margin expanded by 14 basis points QoQ and 2 basis points YoY to 3.53 per cent.

9:50 am: Sensex pares losses

Sensex staged a smart recovery and was trading 143 points lower at 57,347. Nifty also recovered and was trading above 17,000 mark.

9:20 am: Market opening

Sensex crashed 1000 points to hit a low of 56,409 and Nifty slipped below 17,000 mark.

Asian Paints was the top loser on Sensex, declining over 3 per cent followed by Wipro, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T and HDFC.

9:05 am: Pre-Market Comment by Mohit Nigam, Head-PMS, HEM Securities 

Benchmark Indices are expected to open on a negative note as suggested by trends on SGX Nifty, amid weakness across the global market. The US markets ended higher on Monday with bargain hunters pushing the indexes into positive territory by closing bell. 

Asian markets are trading in red on Tuesday amid nervousness among investors about the situation in Ukraine and ahead of the outcome of the Fed's scheduled policy review. Heavy selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) is likely to weigh on the markets. 

Agriculture industry related stocks will be in focus as the Union Food Ministry said the Center has procured 606.19 lakh tonnes of paddy in the ongoing 2021-22 marketing season so far, with maximum quantities being purchased from Punjab.

There will be some reaction in textile industry stocks as ICRA ratings in its report stated that Indian cotton spinners are likely to report double-digit revenue growth and all-time high profits in 2021-22, mainly driven by high demand and realizations. It added that while the growth is primarily being led by all-time high realizations, which have sustained for much of the year, volumes are also estimated to be better than the pre-COVID levels. 

Axis Bank will be in focus as the company has posted consolidated net profit for the December quarter zoomed nearly three-folds to Rs 3,973 crore.

On the technical front 16,800 and 17,500 are immediate support and resistance in Nifty 50. For Bank Nifty 36,300 and 38,000 are immediate support and resistance respectively.

9:00 am: Further weakness expected

Amar Ambani, senior president and institutional equities head, YES Securities, sees further weakness in the equity market. “Indian equities corrected massively, possibly reacting to US equities trending lower and rise in crude oil prices. There were no positive triggers to take the market upwards in the near term. While a further 500 points downside cannot be ruled out in the Nifty. Corporate earnings have been positive so far and Omicron didn’t disrupt the economy materially. The structural story remains intact and I am confident that Nifty will achieve a higher high in 2022, than what we saw in 2021."

8:50 am: Global updates

Wall Street bounced back from a steep sell-off late in the session to close higher on Monday, with bargain hunters pushing the indexes into positive territory by closing bell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99.13 points, or 0.29%, to 34,364.5, the S&P 500 gained 12.19 points, or 0.28%, to 4,410.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 86.21 points, or 0.63%, to 13,855.13.

All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 spent most of the trading day deep in red territory, but by market close all but three were green. Consumer discretionary enjoyed the largest percentage gain.

In Asia, Nikkei Weighted index was down 2.03 per cent and Hang Seng was trading 1.49 per cent lower. Shanghai Composite was down 1.03 per cent.

8:45 am: SFX Nifty 

The Indian equity market is likely to open on a negative note as SGX Nifty was down 106 points to 16,996.

8:40 am: FII and DII action

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,751.58 crore on January 24, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 74.88 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.

8:35 am: Rupee falls by 19 paise to 74.62

The rupee on Monday slumped by 19 paise to 74.62 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar at close due to high crude oil prices, forex outflows and heavy losses in domestic equities amid growing geopolitical worries.

Forex traders said the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and weak appetite for riskier assets also dragged down the local unit.

Moreover, market participants are now eyeing the U.S. Fed's January 25-26 meeting for further cues.

8:30 am: SGX Nifty

The Indian equity market is likely to open on a positive note as SGX Nifty was up 127.7 points to 17,001.2 at 8:30 am.

Singapore Nifty (SGX Nifty) is the Indian Nifty index that is traded in the Singapore Stock Exchange and is considered to be the first indication of the opening of the Indian market.

8:15 am: Market on Monday

Indian stock market extended losses for the fifth consecutive session on Monday. Sensex closed 1,545 points lower at 57,491 and Nifty declined 468 points to 17,149. 

All 30 Sensex stocks ended in the red. Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Wipro and Tech Mahindra were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 5.98 per cent.

BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices fell 952 points and 1,328 points, respectively. On the sectoral front, consumer durables and IT shares led the losses today.

BSE consumer durables index fell 1,815 points to 42,081 and IT index plunged 1,186 points to 34,737. All 19 sectoral indices closed in the red.