Indian Stock Market in flat focus on the Fed
2023.02.20 01:24
Indian Stock Market in flat focus on the Fed
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Monday, concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve would keep interest rates higher for a longer period of time caused Indian shares to struggle for direction.
The Clever 50 list was up 0.06% at 17,955.90 as of 10:40 a.m. IST, while the S&P was higher by 0.17% at 61,116.34. During the session, the benchmarks saw gains of 0.4 percent and losses of 0.3 percent.
Seven of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with the pharmaceutical index losing nearly 1 percent. After an inspection, the Pithampur unit of Cipla, which is the second most heavily weighted stock in the pharma index, received eight observations from the U.S. drug regulator and fell nearly 7% to a near-seven-month low. The stock was the top loser in the Nifty 50.
Hindustan Unilever (NYSE:) beat the weak sentiment. after the FMCG giant agreed to sell and divest brands in its food business, including “Annapurna” and “Captain Cook,” it rose nearly 1% and was one of the top Nifty 50 gainers. Bharti Airtel (NYSE:) gained more than 2% following Goldman Sachs. maintained a “buy” rating for the stock and predicted an increase in revenue of 15% annually from this fiscal year to 2025.
After official data showed a rise in export prices in January, there were still worries about how the United States would raise interest rates in the future.
Marcellus Investment Managers co-founder Pramod Gubbi stated, “Inflation remains the number one risk to global markets although the markets do not appear to be pricing the risk adequately.”
However, according to Gubbi, a resumption of the capex cycle should be beneficial to economic recovery and domestic equity resilience.
According to two analysts, Indian markets are likely to trade between 17,800 and 18,300 in the near future. They added that attractive valuations would offset any potential rise due to lingering concerns about Fed rate hikes and the likelihood of global growth slowing.
Investors are awaiting the Fed’s meeting minutes, which are due on Wednesday, to determine the path the US central bank will take for future rate hikes. Due to a local holiday, markets in the United States will be closed on Monday.
