Shares turn rangebound; European markets decline

The domestic equity barometers traded in a narrow range near the day's low in afternoon trade. The Nifty continued to hold above the 15,850 level. Shares across sectors declined, with metals, banks, and financial falling the most. Rising global inflation and consequent tightening of monetary policy by major central banks dented the investor sentiment.

At 13:26 IST, the barometer index, S&P BSE Sensex was down 934.16 points or 1.73% to 53,154.23. The Nifty 50 index tumbled 297.65 points or 1.84% to 15,869.45.

Adani Ports (down 5.92%), IndusInd Bank (down 5.14%), Bajaj Finance (down 4.22%), Tata Steel (down 3.80%) and Grasim (down 3.70%) were the top Nifty losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.94% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.59%.

The market breadth remained weak. On the BSE, 661 shares rose while 2,601 shares fell. A total of 86 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Larsen & Toubro (down 2.86%) and Tata Motors (down 3.22%) traded lower ahead of their quarterly earnings announcement today.

Punjab National Bank dropped 11.33%. The PSU bank reported standalone net profit fell 65.62% to Rs 201.57 crore and total income fell 6.38% to Rs 21,095.17 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021.

Relaxo Footwears tumbled 4.09%. The footwear maker's standalone net profit declined 38.41% to Rs 62.93 crore on 6.62% fall in net sales to Rs 698.19 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021.

Birla Corporation declined 3.81%. The company reported consolidated net profit declined 55.45% to Rs 111.08 crore and net sales rose 6.17% to Rs 2264.21 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021.

Hindalco Industries lost 4.32%. Novelis reported 15% fall in adjusted EBITDA to $431 million in Q4 FY22 from $505 million in Q4 FY21. Net sales of Novelis increased 34% to $4,849 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022, compared to $3,631 million in the prior year period, primarily driven by higher average aluminum prices and local market premiums.

Coforge slipped 2.73%. The IT company reported 13% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 207.7 crore on a 5.1% increase in gross revenues to Rs 1,742.9 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q3 FY22.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia declined across the board on Thursday as investors kept an eye on high inflation and tightening monetary policies.

Adding to the uncertainty for investors are the war in Ukraine and Covid-19 lockdowns in China that threaten to hurt the global economy.

The U.K. economy shrank by 0.1% in March but expanded by 0.8% for the first quarter of 2022 as a whole, official figures showed on Thursday, reportedly missing consensus forecasts and signaling that the worst is yet to come as the country's escalating cost-of-living crisis bites.

US stocks dropped overnight following the release of the U.S. consumer inflation data. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tanked 3.18% while the broader S&P 500 shed 1.65%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.02%.

The U.S. consumer-price index increased 8.3% in April from the same month a year ago, data released Wednesday showed, decelerating from an 8.5% annual rate in March.

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