Markets continue to trade weak; Sensex falls nearly 484 points in early trade

Equity indices began the trade on a bearish note on Thursday, mirroring weak global market trends after the U.S. Fed’s interest rate hike.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 483.71 points to 58,973.07 in the initial trade. The NSE Nifty went lower by 137.95 points to 17,580.40.

Among the 30-share Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, Wipro, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Power Grid and ICICI Bank were the major laggards.

ITC, Maruti, IndusInd Bank and Hindustan Unilever were among the gainers in early trade.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.

The U.S. markets ended in the negative territory on Wednesday.

“While the Fed’s 75 basis points rate hike and reiteration of the hawkish message were on expected lines, indicating that the terminal rate is likely to be 4.6% was higher than market expectations,” said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The big question from the Indian market perspective is whether India’s outperformance will continue in the present global risk-off context, Mr. Vijayakumar added.

The BSE benchmark had fallen by 262.96 points or 0.44% to settle at 59,456.78 on Wednesday. The Nifty went lower by 97.90 points or 0.55% to end at 17,718.35.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.50% to $90.27 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth ₹461.04 crore on Wednesday after two days of buying, according to data available with the BSE.

“The U.S. Fed hiked policy rates by 75 basis points as anticipated, but the central bank’s statement suggesting that more rate hikes could be on the cards in coming months soured the market sentiment, resulting in a steep fall in the U.S. markets in overnight trades,” said Prashanth Tapse – Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.