HDFC downgrade, looming Fed decision, and more: 5 reasons why Indian markets cracked over 1% today

Produced by: Tarun Mishra
Designed by: Mohsin Shaikh

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled more than 1% on Wednesday due to heavy selling in banking and oil stocks, in tandem with weak global trends ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision

Market closes in deep red

Falling for the second consecutive day, the 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted 796 points, or 1.18%, to settle at 66,800.84, while the NSE Nifty declined 231.90 points, or 1.15%, to end at 19,901.40

Back-to-back fall

Shares of HDFC Bank closed 3.87% lower after Nomura Holdings Inc downgraded the stock, prompted by the lender's lowered revision of the business absorbed from its parent HDFC as part of the mega merger

HDFC Bank downgrade

Brokerages that participated in HDFC Bank's analyst meeting to discuss the HDFC-HDFC Bank merger and related financial matters expressed some disappointment. They noted a 17% decrease in net worth, primarily attributed to accounting adjustments and policy alignment. These adjustments led to a negative impact on net interest margin (NIM) due to excess liquidity, a decrease in the return on assets (RoA) on a consolidated basis, and an increase in non-performing loans, primarily stemming from HDFC's non-individual loan portfolio. As a result, these brokerages lowered their target prices for the stock

HDFC Bank disappoints
brokerages

The share price of Reliance Industries (RIL) witnessed a decline of more than 2.5% during Wednesday's trading session. This drop followed reports of a substantial block deal that occurred after the market opened. According to CNBC-TV18, approximately 2 crore shares, equivalent to 0.3% of the company's total shares, were involved in this block deal. The transaction amounted to Rs 4,512 crore in the block deal window

Reliance Industries

Reliance Industries' shares opened at Rs 2,422.95 apiece on Wednesday, hitting an intra-day low of Rs 2,361.60 and a high of Rs 2,426.40. This marks four consecutive sessions of decline, with a total loss of over 2%

RIL continues to fall

In Wednesday's trading, shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank were valued at Rs 9,494.36 crore. Kotak Mahindra Bank's stock experienced a 0.45 per cent decline, reaching Rs 1,789.50 on the BSE

Kotak Mahindra Bank

Kotak Mahindra stock fell as investors perceived Canada Pension Plan Investment Board might pull the plug on its Indian investments amid frosty India-Canada ties over killing of a separatist Sikh leader. The diplomatic tension has led the analysts to believe that the rift between the two countries could cause a destabilisation of economic relations between India and Canada

India-Canada relations

The Federal Reserve is widely anticipated to maintain current interest rates, yet the US central bank will provide an update on its economic outlook through the summary of economic projections. All eyes will be on Fed chair Jerome Powell's comments and market analysts will parse whether he's hawkish or dovish

Anticipation of Fed’s decision

Regarding oil prices, Brent crude oil reached over $96 per barrel but has since been trading at around $93 per barrel on Wednesday. Jefferies' analysts suggested that fiscal pressures on the Indian economy are slowly increasing, particularly with oil prices approaching the $100 per barrel mark (Brent)

Oil prices