Indian shares decline on rate hike worries; Wipro tumbles

BENGALURU: Indian shares settled lower on Thursday after the country’s retail inflation data stoked fears of more rate hikes, while dismal results from Wipro weighed on IT stocks.

The NSE Nifty 50 index declined 0.64% to close at 17,014.35, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.68% to 57,235.33.

Both indexes have been trading between their respective 50- and 100-day moving averages for 13 sessions in a row now.

“I don’t expect a rally or a fall because when going down, it will get some support from banks and infrastructure companies and going up will be a problem as recession fears will keep a check on export-oriented stocks like IT,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities.

India’s retail inflation accelerated to a five-month high in September as food prices surged, remaining above the Reserve Bank of India’s target for three quarters and raising fears of further interest-rate hikes.

Even globally, stocks slipped to a near two-year low on Thursday, as investors braced for key U.S. inflation data later in the day for cues on the size of rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

Indian shares decline as autos, energy weigh

Investors fear that stubbornly high inflation will force central banks to stay aggressive with monetary policy, which could lead to an economic recession.

Those fears were fanned by IT major Wipro Ltd’s forecast of a smaller sequential revenue growth in the current quarter.

Wipro’s stock tumbled 7% to a near two-year low, dragging the Nifty IT index 0.68% down. The stock was also the biggest loser on the bluechip Nifty 50.

However, Wipro’s smaller rival HCL Tech Ltd was at the top of the Nifty 50, with a 3.2% gain, after raising its full-year revenue growth forecast.

Larger rival Infosys Ltd settled 0.6% lower. After the bell, the company reported a higher quarterly profit and raised its full-year revenue growth forecast.

Aditya Birla Money Ltd closed 11.9% higher after the brokerage firm posted a 51% rise in quarterly profit.

The Nifty’s metal and pharma indexes climbed 0.11% and 0.22%, respectively, helping limit losses.