Stock markets close lower amid caution ahead of Q1 earnings; IT, oil shares drag

Mumbai: Stock markets closed lower on Wednesday due to selling in IT and oil & gas shares as investors turned cautious ahead of the start of earnings season and mixed global trends.

Dragged by late selling, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 176.43 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 83,536.08. During the day, it lost 330.23 points or 0.39 per cent to 83,382.28.

The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 46.40 points or 0.18 per cent to end at 25,476.10.

From the Sensex firms, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Bharat Electronics and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.

Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement and Power Grid were among the gainers.

"Indian key indices remained largely range-bound, while domestic consumption themes continued to anchor investor sentiment. Despite global trade tensions and commodity tariffs, investor focus is increasingly shifting toward domestic earnings and structural growth drivers, including a likely sequential recovery in urban demand and a pickup in infrastructure-led spending," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

The US has extended the suspension of its April 2 reciprocal tariffs until August 1.

Shares of mining giant Vedanta dropped 3.38 per cent to end at Rs 440.80 on the BSE after US short seller Viceroy Research released a report charging billionaire Anil Agarwal's mining conglomerate to be "financially unsustainable" and posing a severe risk to creditors.

Viceroy said it was shorting the debt stack of Vedanta Resources, the parent company and majority owner of Mumbai-listed Vedanta Ltd, as it released the 85-page report.

Responding to the report, Vedanta in a statement said, "The report is a malicious combination of selective misinformation and baseless allegations to discredit the Group".

"Markets traded in a volatile but in a narrow range and ended marginally lower, extending the ongoing consolidation phase. While the tariff-related concerns linger, the focus now shifts to the earnings season, with IT major, TCS, scheduled to announce its results on Thursday, July 10," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

The BSE SmallCap gauge climbed 0.45 per cent while midcap index dipped 0.05 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas dropped the most by 1.41 per cent. Metal (1.41 per cent), realty (1.40 per cent), BSE Focused IT (0.80 per cent), teck (0.71 per cent) and IT (0.67 per cent) were among the losers.

FMCG, auto, consumer durables, services, consumer discretionary and dinancial services were the gainers.

"Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Wednesday as caution persisted amid uncertainty around the India–US trade deal and the kick-off of the Q1 earnings season," Gaurav Garg, Lemonn Markets Desk, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 index settled higher while Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended lower.

European markets were trading higher. The US markets ended on a flat note on Tuesday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.51 per cent to USD 70.51 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 26.12 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), however, bought stocks worth Rs 1,366.82 crore.

On Tuesday, the Sensex rose by 270.01 points or 0.32 per cent to settle at 83,712.51. The Nifty climbed 61.20 points or 0.24 per cent to close at 25,522.50.