Market on a rollercoaster; Sensex nosedives 1000 pts, Nifty around 15,950; ITC, Infosys most active

BSE Information Technology index plunges 3.5 percent dragged by Mphasis, Datamatics Global Services, L&T Technology Services

Manappuram Finance reported a 44 percent year on year decline in net profit for the March quarter to Rs 261 crore against analysts' estimates of Rs 451.

Lupin Ltd reported a loss of Rs 512 crore in the March quarter against a profit of Rs 546 crore a year ago. Revenue rose 3% to Rs 3865 crore. EBITDA declined 63% year on year to Rs 282 crore. The company said its current quarter was challenging with headwinds in the U.S. on account of price erosion, and inflation in input materials and freight.

Other factors hammering stocks include continued selling by foreign institutional investors, inflation and downgrades

ITC posted resilient performance with 8.75 percent cigarette volume growth and margin expansion across cigarettes, paperboard and FMCG business. Hotels improved but still remain in the red.

Near term outlook remains positive given, one, positive cigarette volume traction considering stable tax regime, two, strong pricing and benefits of backward integration in paperboard, three, benefits of supply chain disruption in leaf tobacco and strong wheat exports, four, gradually improving occupancy levels in hotels and, five, sustained growth across core segments in FMCG with steady margin expansion.

Global brokerage house downgraded the Indian IT sector to underweight and reduced target prices of many tech firms by 10-20%. The brokerage firm sees more downside risks to current earnings assumptions and downgrades.

JP Morgan has reduced TCS, HCL Tech and Wipro rating to underweight from neutral. It has cut TCS target price to Rs 3100 a share from Rs 3900 a share. HCL Tech target price reduced to Rs 950 from Rs 1150, Wipro target is down to Rs 430 from Rs 520 a share.

The brokerage firm has cut Tech Mahindra, Infosys L&T Infotech, L&T Tech target price between 16-18%.

The Sensex was down 1,025.94 points or 1.89% at 53182.59, and the Nifty was down 305.40 points or 1.88% at 15934.90. About 582 shares have advanced, 2195 shares declined, and 66 shares are unchanged.

Wipro, BPCL, Torrent Power, SMS Pharmaceuticals, Metropolis Healthcare, Dr. Lal PathLabs, BPCL, HDFC Bank among the stocks, which touched 52-week low today: Click Here to get a complete list of stocks

Wipro, BPCL, Torrent Power, SMS Pharmaceuticals, Metropolis Healthcare, Dr. Lal PathLabs, BPCL, HDFC Bank among the stocks, which touched 52-week low today: Click Here to get a complete list of stocks

"The rupee hitting an all-time low, Fed's tightening policy and continuous FPI sale, are likely to have economic ramifications in the near-term. Rising inflationary pressure has compelled FED and other central banks across the world to begin raising interest rates in the coming months which has in-turn led investors to believe that an economic recession is looming. India is apprehensive, as a tumbling rupee and imminent rate hike signifies a hit to the operating margins and profitability. However, the Indian economy is running strong, primarily on account of a positive corporate earnings momentum. Globally, the Russia-Ukraine crisis and supply chain disruptions continue to impact the global and Indian equities," said Mitul Shah, Head of Research at Reliance Securities.

Asian stocks tracked a steep Wall Street selloff on Thursday, as investors fretted over rising global inflation, China's zero-COVID policy and the Ukraine war, while the safe-haven dollar held most of its strong overnight gains.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan snapped its four-day streak of gains and slumped 2.3 per cent, dragged down by a 1.6 per cent loss for Australia's resource-heavy index, a 3.3 per cent drop in Hong Kong stocks and a 1% retreat for blue chips in mainland China. Japan's Nikkei also skidded, shedding 2.5 per cent.