• By Aditya Pratap Singh
  • Wed, 17 Jan 2024 04:48 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Stock Market Today:  Following negative signals from global peers, Indian benchmark stock indices closed in the red for a second straight day on Wednesday. Sensex and Nifty faced selling pressure during the January 17 session to close with a sharp decline of over 2%. At the close, the BSE's Sensex fell 1,628.01 points or 2.23 per cent to 71,500.76 and the NSE's Nifty lost 453.90 points or 2.06 per cent to 21,578.40.

Below are some of the main factors that trigger heavy downfall:

HDFC Bank Q3 issue disappointed investors

Shares of HDFC Bank were worst hit, falling more than 8 per cent after the lender declared a loss in December quarter results.

The stock has the highest weighting in the Nifty 50 at 13.52 per cent and hence the sell-off put counter pressure on the overall index. HDFC Bank's Q3 issue disappointed investors.

Concerns about delay in rate cuts

Confidence eased amid easing expectations for a rate cut after U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller warned that the change in monetary policy could be slower than expected.

large-scale damage

Except for information technology, all other sectors remained in the red. Metal stocks also saw selling amid a rally in the dollar index, which sent the Nifty Metal index down more than 3%. The automobile, pharma, PSU banking and infrastructure sectors also closed with losses of around 1 per cent.

Asian markets fall

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, led by Chinese stocks, after a flurry of data on the world's second-largest economy.

Chinese stocks fell sharply after data showed the Chinese economy grew 5.2% in the fourth quarter from a year ago, beating analysts' expectations.

The dollar rises

The dollar index hit a one-month high against a basket of currencies on Wednesday. As the dollar index rises, crude oil and other commodities become more expensive. This increases our import costs and widens our current account deficit.

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