Nifty ends below 17,350; IT shares tumble

The domestic equity barometers ended with steep cuts, after a weak session on Friday. The Nifty closed below the 17,350 mark. Shares across sectors declined with IT, PSU banks, consumer durables and realty shares falling the most.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 773.11 points or 1.31% to 58,152.92. The Nifty 50 index fell 260.30 points or 1.48% to 17,345.55.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 5.47% to 18.68.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 1.84% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 1.90%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 935 shares rose and 2371 shares fell. A total of 102 shares were unchanged.

Weak global cues spoiled investor sentiment as the higher-than-expected US inflation data raised fears of aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.

Yield on the 10-year US Treasury note ended above 2% for the first time since August 2019 after US inflation came in higher than expected. US consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 7.5% in January, which was the highest print since February 1982.

Further, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said that the data had made him "dramatically" more hawkish and that he now wanted a full percentage point of interest rate hikes by Jul 1.

Investors are fully pricing in a rate hike of at least 25 basis points from the Fed at its Mar 15-16 policy meeting, and forecasting a significant chance of a 50 basis points hike.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index fell 2.77% to 34,364.05. The index had gained 2.38% in the past two sessions.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (down 4.97%), L&T Technology Services (down 4.24%), Coforge (down 4.10%), MindTree (down 3.96%), Mphasis (down 3.53%), Tech Mahindra (down 3.10%), Infosys (down 2.79%), HCL Tech (down 2.39%), Wipro (down 2.26%), and TCS (down 2.10%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Gujarat State Petronet shed 0.65% to Rs 297.20. The company's consolidated net profit tanked 46.02% to Rs 350.95 crore on a 67.29% surge in revenue from operations to Rs 5,587.16 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Motherson Sumi Systems slumped 4.74% to Rs 171.85 after the company reported 69% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 245.08 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 798.38 crore in Q3 FY21. Total revenue from operations declined 6% YoY to Rs 16,117.51 crore during the quarter.

Divi's Laboratories shed 0.44% to Rs 4294.45. The company's consolidated net profit rose 91.71% to Rs 902.24 crore on 46.54% increase in net sales to Rs 2493.24 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21. Profit before tax rose 60.99% to Rs 1033.66 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Sun TV Network slipped 0.40% to Rs 519.15. The media company's standalone net profit rose 3.52% to Rs 457.39 crore on 6.25% rise in net sales to Rs 1033.10 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

JSW Steel was up 0.07% to Rs 673. The steel maker's standalone crude steel production for the month of January 2022 grew 15% year on year to 16.46 lakh tonnes as against 14.32 lakh tonnes in January 2021. On a sequential basis, crude steel production rose by 8% in January 2022 from 15.26 lakh tonnes produced in December 2021.

Torrent Power fell 2.14% to Rs 495.80. The company has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Blue Daimond Properties and Balrampur Chini Mills Limited (the Sellers) for the acquisition of 100% equity share capital of Visual Percept Solar Projects (the SPV).

Trent lost 0.50% to Rs 1070.15. The company reported a 77.7% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 113.78 crore on a 75.6% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 1,499 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Hero MotoCorp fell 0.56% to Rs 2718.55. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 704.24 crore in Q3FY22 as compared to Rs 1029.17 crore in Q3FY21. Total income rose to Rs 8,133.30 crore from Rs 10,032.61 crore YoY.

Tata Chemicals tumbled 4.74% to Rs 913.75. The company's consolidated net profit surged 74.04% to Rs 349.35 crore on a 20.54% surge in revenue from operations to Rs 3,141.58 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Zomato slumped 5.98% to Rs 88.85. The company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 67.20 crore in Q3FY22 as compared to net loss of Rs 352.60 crore in Q3FY21. Total income rose to Rs 1259.70 crore from Rs 637.30 crore YoY.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia declined across the board on Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street following hotter than expected consumer prices data.

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