Sensex up 110 points, Nifty edges higher by 48 points; Infosys shares rebound after 15% plunge on Tuesday

The Sensex and Nifty stared on a tepid note on Wednesday amid weak cues from global markets and foreign fund outflow as investors awaited a slew of corporate earnings of the second fiscal quarter.

The 30-share index was trading flat at 38,963.28 in morning trade, and the broader NSE Nifty slipped 3.40 points, or 0.02 percent, to 11,584.95.

At 10:15 am, the BSE Sensex was up by 110 points at 39,073 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 48 points to 11,637. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with thin margins except for Nifty IT and pharma.

Other losers in the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank, HUL, ONGC, M&M, PowerGrid and L&T, shedding up to 2.50 percent. Among stocks, private lenders Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were down between 1.3 and 1.7 percent. Adani Ports lost by 4.8 percent, Tata Motors by 2.4 percent and JSW Steel by 1.1 percent.

Infosys shares up

Infosys which had shed 16.65 percent on Tuesday after a whistleblower complaint against unethical practices by certain senior management members of the firm, was trading at Rs 644.35 per share, up by 0.16 percent.

Among the gainers were HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, TCS, TechM, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and RIL, rising up to 2 percent. Other gainers were Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies, Titan and Britannia.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 334.54 points, or 0.85 percent, lower at 38,963.84. The broader NSE Nifty too tumbled 73.50 points, or 0.63 percent, to settle at 11,588.35. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market, offloading Rs 557.50 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 985.47 crore, data available with stock exchange showed, according to a PTI report.

According to traders, domestic investors were cautious tracking global stocks that fell after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday "paused" his Brexit Bill for leaving the European Union (EU) by the 31 October deadline after MPs vote for it 329 to 299, but then voted against a crucial attached motion that would have seen it through by the end of the week.

Representational image. Reuters.

Rupee depreciates 4 paise against dollar in early trade.

The rupee, meanwhile, depreciated 4 paise against the US dollar to trade at 70.98 in early session.

The Indian rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 9 paise to 71.03 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday amid rising demand for the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies overseas and unabated foreign fund outflows.

Forex traders said trading in emerging market currencies were subdued after the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson lost the crucial Brexit Bill timetable vote.

"I must express my disappointment that the House has voted for delay rather than a timetable that would have guaranteed the UK could leave on 31 October with a deal. We now face further uncertainty," Johnson told the House of Commons after the final of two important votes on Tuesday.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 71.01 then fell to 71.03 against the US dollar, showing a decline of 9 paise over its previous closing.

The Indian rupee on Tuesday had closed at 70.94 against the US dollar.

Asia shares slip on Brexit snag

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were trading in the red.

US stock futures and Asian shares slipped on Wednesday as revenue warnings from Texas Instruments raised worries about the global tech sector and after British lawmakers forced the government to hit the pause button on the latest Brexit deal, Reuters said.

On Wall Street, stock exchanges finished on a negative note on Tuesday.

S&P500 mini futures ESc1 dropped 0.3 percent while Japan's Nikkei last stood almost flat after having fallen as much as 0.4 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan  fell 0.5 percent.

On Tuesday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 lost 0.36 percent.

After the bell, Texas Instruments, whose broad lineup of products makes it a proxy for the global chip industry, forecast current-quarter revenue to fall 10 to 17 percent from a year earlier, well below estimates.

Texas Instruments shares tumbled 9.8 percent in after-hours trade, driving down other chipmaker shares including Intel and Nvidia.

Worries that the global microchip industry is being squeezed by a downturn in demand and a prolonged US-China trade dispute sent some Asian chip-related shares lower.

Taiwan’s fell 0.2 percent while South Korea’s SK Hynix shed 0.7 percent and Japan’s Tokyo Electron slumped 3.7 percent.

“Given recent rally in semi-conductor shares, some adjustments will be inevitable,” said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, chief strategist at Mizuho Securities. But our investor survey has shown that many investors are still cautious on the sector so a bit of weakness in the industry would surprise few of them,” he added.

Currency market

In the currency market, sterling dipped 0.15 percent to $1.2851, falling further from five-month highs of $1.3012 set on Monday.

But the currency still kept hefty gains made over the past fortnight on growing expectations that a no-deal Brexit will be avoided even though it is still not clear how the process will unravel.

On Tuesday, the British parliament voted in favour of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan, but then rejected his timetable to fast-track legislation to take Britain out of the European Union. That effectively meant Britain would not be able to finalise its exit by Johnson’s 31 October deadline.

The next step, Johnson said, would be waiting for the EU to respond to a request to delay the 31 October Brexit date, which the prime minister reluctantly sent to Brussels on Saturday after being forced to do so by lawmakers.

A source in Johnson’s office said on Tuesday that a new election is the only way to move on from Britain’s Brexit crisis if the European Union agrees to a delay until January.

“Broadly speaking, there are two scenarios. There will be a short extension before the parliament will agree on Johnson’s plan. Or there could be a general election, which would need a longer extension,” said Kyosuke Suzuki, director of forex at Societe Generale. But it now seems unlikely that Britain will crash out of the EU on Oct. 31,” he said.

Receding worries about a no-deal Brexit also underpinned the euro, which stood at $1.1122 flat on the day and a tad below Monday's two-month high of $1.1180.

The yen ticked up 0.15 percent to 108.31 yen per dollar, in a slow recovery since hitting a 2-1/2-month low of 108.94 on Thursday.

The dollar was broadly weak, ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting next week, where policymakers are expected to cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.

Oil prices fell after industry group data showed U.S. crude stocks rose more than expected last week.

Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.29 percent to $59.42 per barrel.

--With inputs from agencies