India's benchmark stock indices were trading near day's lows through midday in a volatile session on Wednesday, as investors await U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's semi-annual testimony before the Congress.
Powell will testify on how the central bank plans on proceeding with the monetary policy this year. He is expected to reiterate the lack of urgency to cut rates at his testimony, Bloomberg reported.
As of 11:59 a.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was trading 108.05 points, or 0.48%, lower at 22,248.25 and the S&P BSE Sensex was down 286.67 points, or 0.39%, at 73,390.46.
The trend of the indices is pretty uncertain before the big event tonight, according to Aditya Agarwala, head of research and investments at Invest4edu.
"There has been a significant increase in open interest of Bank Nifty futures, suggesting that post today's event, there could be big move on either side," he said.
Shares of Axis Bank Ltd., Bajaj Auto Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., and ICICI Bank Ltd. were positively contributing to the Nifty.
Whereas, Infosys Ltd., ITC Ltd., NTPC Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd. were weighing on the index.
Except Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services, all sectoral indices fell. Nifty Media fell the most.
Broader markets underperformed, with the S&P BSE Midcap falling 1.98% and the S&P BSE Smallcap declining 2.87% through midday trade on Wednesday.
Only S&P BSE Bankex gained of the 20 sectoral indices on the BSE. S&P BSE Services gained nearly 3%.
Market breadth was skewed in the favour of the sellers. Around 3,146 stocks fell, 585 rose, and 100 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.
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