Markets continue trading lower in afternoon trade; Adani Ports down 2%

Benchmark indices continued trading lower in the afternoon trade, heading for a fourth straight session of fall as investors stayed cautious ahead of the start of the March-quarter earnings season. Globally, the sentiment was also hit by the ongoing geopolitical concerns.

 
After hitting a record high of 9,273.90 points last week, the broader NSE index has fallen about 0.9% as investors wait for corporate results, with Infosys due tomorrow.
 
Street is also looking forward to a set of economic data - industrial production (IIP) for February and CPI inflation for March due later in the day.  Having sunk to its lowest level for at least five years in January, CPI is expected to have risen to 3.98% last month from February's 3.65%, according to the median forecast of 30 economists.
 
At 2:20 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,658, down 129 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,199, down 37 points.
 
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap indices fell 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. 
 
The market breadth was negative as 981 shares advanced against a decline of 1,700 shares, while 127 shares were unchanged.
 
Adani Ports, Tata Steel, NTPC, GAIL and Maruti Suzuki were the top losers on BSE Sensex, while Hero MotoCorp HDFC Bank, ITC and Coal India were in the green.
 
After Supreme Court’s order on compensatory tariff, shares of Tata Power and Adani Power took a hit on Wednesday. Adani Power and Tata Power had an intraday fall of 5.7% and 1.7%, respectively.
 
Nifty PSU Bank index, which had risen nearly 20% in 2017, was down 1.1% dragged by Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Syndicate Bank.
 
Meanwhile, Vedanta gained as much as 3.9% and Cairn India rose up to 2.9% to its highest since October 2, 2014 after Vedanta announced that it completed the buyout of Cairn India.
 
Global markets have also been under pressure over North Korea and Syria tensions, further sapping sentiment.
 
Japan's Nikkei slid 1% as a rising yen weighed on exporters' shares, while E-mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 were a fraction softer.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was near flat and futures pointed to a slightly firmer opening for the main European bourses.