2 Minutes Read (Reuters) – BENGALURU (Reuters) – On Wednesday, Indian equities dipped as losses in banking stocks exceeded gains in information technology (IT) businesses, as investors anticipated the results of IT behemoth Infosys, which were due later in the day. On January 31, 2020, a woman walks past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) headquarters in Mumbai, India. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex were both down 0.16 percent at 15,786.40 and 52,681.65 points, respectively, as of 0450 GMT. “Markets are down today mostly due to profit booking,” said Siddharth Sedani, head of equity advising at Anand Rathi Financial Services in Mumbai. “Investors are unable to locate any strong triggers considering results season is still in its fledgling stage.” “The second-largest IT firm (Infosys) might act as a new positive catalyst.” Markets, according to Sedani, are likely to take positive cues from the improvement in monsoons, which benefits agriculture and agrochemicals. After a lull, India’s monsoon has sprung back to life, removing the prospect of a delay in planting key summer crops. Sentiment was also depressed by a drop in Asian stocks, as global markets were rattled by the greatest increase in U.S. inflation in 13 years, raising fears that the Federal Reserve will withdraw pandemic-era support sooner than expected. [MKTS/GLOB] The Nifty Bank index fell 0.5 percent in Mumbai trading after closing 1.35 percent higher the previous day, while the Nifty IT index rose 1.78 percent. MindTree’s stock soared to new highs after the business reported a surge in consolidated net profit for the June quarter. Larger rival Infosys was up 0.8 percent ahead of its first-quarter earnings, which are expected to show a profit increase later in the day. S&P Global Ratings kept India’s sovereign rating at the lowest investment grade of ‘BBB-‘ on Tuesday, saying that the country’s capacity to rebound from the current economic downturn hinged on the government’s ability to implement reforms that encourage investment and job creation. Shivani Singh contributed reporting from Bengaluru, and Vinay Dwivedi edited the piece./n
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