By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks inched lower on Wednesday, as a drop in information technology stocks on concerns over U.S. growth weighed on broader gains.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.27% to 22,438.25 as of 10:12 a.m. IST while the Sensex fell 0.22% to 73,943.99. They rose 0.3% each in early trade.
U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum but reversed course in just hours later, in rapid-fire moves that added to worries over the U.S. economy and spooked investors.
Fears of a looming recession in the U.S. have sent ripples of uncertainty through global markets, said analysts.
IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., fell 3.1%. All ten constituents of the index declined.
Infosys was the biggest drag on IT stocks with a 3.5% drop, after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to “equal-weight” from “overweight” on concerns over slowing growth.
Six of the other 12 major sectoral indexes rose, with financials up 0.5%, led by a 1.5% jump in top private lender HDFC Bank.
IndusInd Bank recovered from early losses and rose around 5%. The stock plunged 27% on Tuesday, its worst one-day fall ever, after it reported discrepancies in its derivatives account.
In other stocks, Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel traded flat, erasing about 1% and 3% opening gains, after deals with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring the Starlink internet services to India.
The more domestically focussed small- and mid-caps were up about 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively.
“Expect swings on either sides (of the flat-line) for the Nifty 50 before directional clarity emerges,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Investors are awaiting U.S. and India inflation data for February later in the day, which could influence future rate actions in both countries.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Varun H K)
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