Financials, Reliance weigh on Indian benchmarks; Fed meeting on tap – Reuters India

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Dec 17 (Reuters) – India’s benchmark indexes fell on Tuesday, dragged down by financials and Reliance Industries, while investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting that will shed more light on the central bank’s future rate cut path.

The NSE Nifty 50 (.NSEI) was down 0.8% at 24,470.1 points as of 11:17 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex (.BSESN) fell 0.83% to 81,075.43.

Eleven of the 13 major sectors traded lower.

HDFC Bank (HDBK.NS), the heaviest stock on the Nifty 50, dropped 1% after it received a warning letter from the markets regulator alleging its disclosures regarding the resignation of a senior employee were non-compliant with certain provisions.

The lender’s losses also pulled down financials (.NIFTYFIN) by 0.9%.

Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) – another Nifty heavyweight – slipped more than 1%, dragging the energy index (.NIFTYENR) 1.04% lower.

IT firms (.NIFTYIT), which get a bulk of their revenue from the U.S., fell 0.4% ahead of the Fed’s policy meeting decision on Wednesday, where a quarter-point rate cut is almost certain with the odds being at 95%, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Investors are waiting to get a “whiff of what comes tomorrow from the Fed in terms of when and how much will the central bank cut rates in 2025,” said Anita Gandhi, founder and head of institution at Arihant Capital Markets.

The Fed’s rate cut trajectory for next year has become less certain in light of recent U.S. data that showed sticky inflation in a relatively robust economy.

Meanwhile, data released on Monday showed India’s trade deficit widened to a record level in November, which Gandhi said further weighed on investor sentiment on the day.

Among individual stocks, Zomato (ZOMT.NS) climbed nearly 3% after brokerage Nuvama said it expects the food delivery platform to see inflows of nearly $513 million when it enters the BSE Sensex index on Dec. 23.

The more domestically-focussed small- (.NIFSMCP100) and midcaps (.NIFMDCP100) were marginally higher on Tuesday.

Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Sonia Cheema

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Hritam reports on Indian companies with added focus on property and infrastructure firms. He previously worked as India reporter with two Vermont, USA-based newspapers. He is an alum of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi and St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.