Equity settles in red, Nifty IT top losers; sugar stocks gain

New Delhi : India’s key benchmark equity indices — S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 — settled in the red on Thursday due to profit booking after the recent rally coupled with subdued global cues.

Thus, Sensex settled at 58,788 points, down 1.3 per cent or 770 points, and Nifty at 17,560 points, down 1.2 per cent or 220 points.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty IT, realty and financial services tanked the most on Thursday, while Nifty auto and consumer durable traded in the green, the NSE data showed.

On the specific stocks front, HDFC, ONGC, SBI Life, Grasim Industries, Infosys were the top losers, while Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto, Divi’s Labs, Maruti Suzuki, and ITC the top runners.

“The broader markets witnessed investor interest in sugar stocks with unblended fuel set to attract additional excise duties,” said S. Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities.

The Budget for FY23 proposed to impose a differential excise duty on unblended fuels of Rs two from October 1, 2022.

In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said blending of fuel is a priority of the current government and the move to impose duty is towards encouraging the blending programme.

Balrampur Chini stocks climbed seven per cent, and Triveni Engineering and Industries rose six per cent, Dalmia Bharat Sugar over one per cent.

Notably, the Centre had in 2021 advanced its set deadline to 2025 to meet the target of 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol. Earlier the target was set for 2030.