Sensex, Nifty start on choppy note; IT stocks decline

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened on a choppy note on Wednesday, tracking weakness in index heavyweights Wipro, TCS and Maruti ahead of the RBI monetary policy announcement.

The 30-share index was trading 34.28 points or 0.05 per cent lower at 62,592.08 in early deals. Similarly, the Nifty slipped 14.55 points or 0.08 per cent to 18,628.20, mirroring sluggish investor sentiment in global markets.

NTPC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 1 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Wipro, TCS, HCL Tech, Maruti and Tech Mahindra.

On the other hand, L&T, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, HUL and SBI were among the gainers.

In the previous session, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 208.24 points or 0.33 per cent to settle at 62,626.36. Likewise, the NSE Nifty declined 58.30 points or 0.31 per cent to end at 18,642.75.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with losses in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong was in the green.

Stock exchanges in the US ended on a negative note in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.24 per cent to USD 79.54 per barrel.

The Reserve Bank is slated to announce the bi-monthly monetary policy later in the day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 635.35 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.

The World Bank on Tuesday revised upwards its GDP growth forecast for India to 6.9 per cent for 2022-23, saying the economy was showing higher resilience to global shocks.

In its India Development Update, the World Bank said the revision was due to the higher resilience of the Indian economy to global shocks and better-than-expected second-quarter numbers.

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday retained India's economic growth forecast at 7 per cent for the current fiscal, saying India could be one of the fastest-growing emerging markets this year.