Market posts moderate gains amid volatility; IT stock worst hit

Indian market ended with moderate gains the week ended March 22 amid high volatility after no change in interest rates by the Fed and sticking to the previous forecast of three rate cuts in 2024, a fall in crude oil prices, subdued guidance from a global IT player Accenture and consistent FII selling.

In this week, BSE Sensex added 188.51 or 0.25 percent to close at 72,831.94 and the Nifty50 index rose 73.45 points or 0.33 percent to end at 22,096.80.

The BSE Small-cap index added nearly 2 percent with Manoj Vaibhav Gems N Jewellers, eMudhra, Vadilal Industries, Dhani Services, Gensol Engineering, Reliance Power, Sobha, The Anup Engineering, Reliance Infrastructure, Swan Energy, Praj Industries, Skipper, Jayaswal Neco Industries and Five-Star Business Finance added between 15-42 percent. On the other hand, Tata Investment Corporation, M K Proteins, Jai Balaji Industries, PC Jeweller, Sanmit Infra, Gujarat Ambuja Exports, and DB Realty.

BSE Mid-cap Index rose 1.5 percent with led by CG Power and Industrial Solutions, Torrent Power, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Oberoi Realty, Jindal Steel & Power and Cummins India, while losers were MRF, Relaxo Footwears, Persistent Systems, Alkem Laboratories, Abbott India, Indian Bank and Mphasis.

The BSE Large-cap Index gained 0.6 percent led by Avenue Supermarts, FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), Zomato, One 97 Communications (Paytm), and Indus Towers, while losers were Infosys, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Adani Total Gas.

In terms of market value, Reliance Industries added the most, followed by Maruti Suzuki India, Bajaj Finance, and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. On the other hand, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and HCL Technologies lost most of their market cap. (Disclaimer: MoneyControl is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.)

Among sectors, the Nifty Information Technology index lost 6 percent after tech giant Accenture revised down its full-year revenue growth projection, however, the Nifty Realty index rose 5.4 percent, and Nifty Auto and Metal indices added 4 percent each.

During the week, Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) increased their selling as they sold equities worth of Rs 8,365.53 crore, while Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 19,351.62 crore.

The Indian rupee remained under pressure against the US dollar. The domestic currency fell 54 paise against the dollar in the week ended March 22 as it closed at 83.42 versus the March 15 closing 82.88.