Share Market Today News: Indices gain for fourth consecutive session, Sensex rises 147 points

On the Sensex pack, Nestle India, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), RIL, ITC, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were the top gainers on Wednesday. In contrast, NTPC, State Bank of India (SBI), Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Infosys were the top laggards.

Among sectors, the Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 0.57 per cent while the Nifty Financial Services, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Realty rose 0.40 per cent each.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 25,069.31, up 31.54 points (0.13 per cent) while the S&P BSE SmallCap settled at 28,741.78, down 8.82 points (0.03 per cent).

“Domestic institutions have been strong buyers in the market over the last week, as 2QFY23 results have come in line or stronger than expected, thus far. 5 out of 6 Nifty companies and 12 out of 20 BSE200 companies which have reported thus far have surprised positively. With a quarter of relatively softer commodity prices, we expect the earnings season to be relatively strong going ahead as well. However, developments in global bond markets have been more challenging and the macro environment continues to remain clouded by second order impact of higher interest rates as well as continuing strong inflation prints. While seasonality favours a strong month for global equity markets, we continue to believe that upsides for Indian markets may remain capped due to adverse valuation differential relative to EM peers and hence, muted foreign flows. We prefer Banking, Autos and Consumer discretionary sectors over cyclical,” said S Hariharan, Head Institutional Equity Sales at Emkay Global Financial Services.

Global markets (from Reuters)

World stocks were a touch softer on Wednesday with sentiment caught between upbeat earnings and further signs that strong inflation will keep major central banks firmly in rate-hiking mode.

Europe’s broad STOXX 600 index slipped 0.3 per cent. In London, banks such as LLoyds and NatWest tumbled on a report that Britain’s new finance minister was planning to raid bank profits.

Wall Street shares were tipped to open higher with Netflix shares soaring 14 per cent in after-hours trade on Tuesday after the streaming giant reversed customer losses that had hammered its stock this year and projected more growth ahead. Upbeat results this week from the likes of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Johnson & Johnson have eased worries about a weak earnings season hit by rising borrowing costs and high inflation. The S&P 500 stock index is up more than 6 per cent from roughly two-year lows hit last week.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose around 0.4 per cent but MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed early gains and fell more than 1 per cent, driven by a drop in Chinese shares.

All this left MSCI’s World Stock Index about a quarter of a percent softer on the day.