Markets erase all gains to turn red; Metals, pharma stocks drag

Tata Motors gained as much as 5% on better than expected March-quarter results

Benchmark indices erased all gains to turn red in the afternoon trade with Nifty below 9,400 on mixed global cues after Wall Street ended higher on US President Donald Trump's first full budget plan which calls for an increase in military and infrastructure spending but also cuts in areas including healthcare and food assistance.
 
Sentiment was also affected as Asian Stocks were trading lower after Moody's cut its sovereign credit rating on China. Back home fresh tensions at Indo-Pak border capped the gains after India stroked Pakistan military posts near LoC.
 
At 1:08 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 30,328, down 36 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,369, down 17 points.

 

The broader market underperformed benchmark indices with S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices down over 1% each.

Buzzing Stocks

Tata Motors, Wipro, Tata Steel and HUL were the top gainers of BSE Sensex while Bharti Airtel, Lupin, Dr Reddy's and ITC fell the most on the index. 

Tata Motors gained over 4% on better than expected results. The auto major on Tuesday reported a 16.79% dip in the March quarter net at Rs 4,336.43 crore on a slowdown in domestic business.
  
Moody’s downgrades China
 
Moody's Investors Services downgraded China's long-term local and foreign currency issuer ratings on Wednesday, citing expectations that the financial strength of the world's second-biggest economy would erode in the coming years.

 
The downgrade by one notch to an A1 rating from Aa3 comes as the Chinese government grapples with the challenges of slowing economic growth and rising financial risks stemming from soaring debt. While the downgrade is likely to modestly increase the cost of borrowing for the Chinese government and its state-owned enterprises, it remains comfortably within the investment grade rating range.
 
"The downgrade reflects Moody's expectation that China's financial strength will erode somewhat over the coming years, with economy-wide debt continuing to rise as potential growth slows," Moody's said in a statement.
 
Global Markets
 
China's main stock index fell 1% and the Australian dollar slipped on Wednesday after Chinese debt rating downgrade by Moody’s.

 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2% despite modest gains on Wall Street overnight while Japan's Nikkei stock index was down 0.4%. Hang Seng and Shanghai were trading down by 0.11% and 0.55%, respectively.
 
In the overnight trade, US stocks ended higher after the release of President Donald Trump's budget plan but gains were tempered on economic data. New data showed new single-family home sales in April tumbled from near a nine-and-a-half-year high, while manufacturing activity for May fell to the lowest level since September.