After opening the day weak, Indian share markets recovered losses as the session progressed and ended the day lower.

Benchmark indices nursed losses Thursday, amid profit booking in large and mid-cap stocks, and the monthly F&O expiry of the January derivatives series.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood down by 360 points (down 0.5%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed down by 101 points (down 0.5%).

Bajaj Auto, NTPC, and Adani Ports were among the top gainers today.

Tech Mahindra, Cipla, and Bharti Airtel on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The GIFT Nifty was trading at 21,533 up by 68 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets ended on mixed. The BSE MidCap index ended 0.4% lower and the BSE SmallCap index ended 0.5% higher.

Sectoral indices ended mixed with stocks in the FMCG sector telecom sector and media sector witnessing selling pressure. Meanwhile, stocks in the power sector and metal sector witnessed buying.

Shares of Bajaj Auto, Trent, and Infosys hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Now track the biggest movers of the stock market using the stocks to watch today section. This should help you keep updated with the latest developments...

Asian share markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite ended 3% higher, while the Nikkei index ended flat. Meanwhile, Hang Seng ended 1.9% higher.

The rupee is trading at 83.11 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading marginally lower at Rs 61,950 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading marginally higher at Rs 71,909 per 1 kg.

Here are five reasons why Indian Markets are falling today.

#1 Soft Quarterly Earnings

Domestic bourses have seen a sharp correction after a few of their key constituents posted a soft set of quarterly numbers during Q3 FY24. Tech Mahindra today slumped after the IT company recorded a slump in its third-quarter net profit. The stock slipped 6.1% to hit a day low of Rs 1,322.

Besides this, India's IT industry has been hurting due to an uncertain demand environment as clients cut back on spending amid inflation and recession fears.

#2 FII Selling

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded Rs 69.3 bn worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 60.1 bn worth of shares, exchange data showed.

FPIs are selling Indian stocks as US benchmark bond yields are rising while optimism around rate cuts fades.

#3 Central Bank Meetings

Investors appear cautious ahead of key central bank meetings. Investors now await the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting on Thursday. ECB is likely to maintain current interest rates. However, according to Reuters, investors anticipate potential cuts of up to 1.3% the year.

The policy meeting of the US Fed is expected on January 30-31.

#4 F&O Expiry

Today's decline in the market could be due to the settlement of F&O (Futures and Options) contracts. It is expected that Nifty may encounter resistance at higher levels.

#5 Profit Booking

Banking and IT heavyweight stocks, including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank Tech Mahindra, TCS, and HCL Tech traded with losses weighing on the market benchmark.

While the Nifty IT index fell almost 2 percent, the Nifty Bank index dropped over 1%.
 

HPCL Q3 Results

In news from the energy sector, state runner oil marketing company HPCL posted 207% standalone growth, or over a three-fold jump, in profit at Rs 5.3 bn for the December quarter of fiscal 2023-24 as against Rs 1.7 bn reported a year back.

HPCL's standalone total income rose 2% on-year to Rs 1.2 tn in Q3FY24 from Rs 1.1 tn last year. Segment-wise, revenue from downstream petroleum contributed to the total income.

The company's operating margin expanded by 0.2% on-year to 0.7% in Q3FY24, as against 0.4% in the year-ago period.

Apart from that, domestic sales rose by 3% YoY to 11.3 million metric tonnes (MMT) in Q3FY24.

Exports, on the other hand, were 80% YoY to 0.54 MMT during the quarter.

SBI Life Q3 Net Profit Jumps 6%

Moving on to news from the insurance sector, in the December 2023 quarter, SBI Life Insurance company posted a net profit of Rs 3.3 bn, up 6% year-on-year (YoY) from Rs 3 bn posted in the same quarter last year.

Meanwhile, its net premium income in the third quarter jumped 16% YoY to Rs 223.2 bn.

The life insurer also reported a 13% rise in total APE (Annualised Premium Equivalent) to Rs 61.3 bn in Q3 FY24 versus Rs 54.3 bn in the same quarter of the previous financial year (Q3 FY23).

Meanwhile, its Value of New Business (VNB) came in at Rs 13.8 bn in Q3 FY24, up 11.3% from Rs 15.1 bn in Q3 FY23. The VNB margin, however, contracted to 24.4% from last year's margin of 27.8%.

Meanwhile, in the nine months of FY24, the firm's net profit rose 15% YoY to Rs 10.8 bn versus Rs 9.4 bn in 9MFY23. Its Gross Written Premium also grew 19% to Rs 561.9 bn in 9MFY24 from Rs 473 bn in 9MFY24.

The growth in individual new business premiums rose 17% to Rs 177.6 bn in the nine months of fiscal 2024, whereas, new business premium (NBP) rose 21% to Rs 260 bn in the nine months ended December, aided by growth in individual annuity business by 35%.

Annualized Premium Equivalent (APE) in the nine months stood at Rs 143.9 bn, up 17% YoY. Value of New Business (VNB) also jumped 11% YoY to Rs 40.4 bn in 9MFY24, while VNB Margin came in at 28.1% in this period, down from 29.6% in 9MFY23.

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