The benchmark indices reversed early gains and settled with modest losses on Wednesday, sliding for the fifth trading session. Dismal cues from European stock market and weakness in Dow Jones index futures spoiled investors sentiment. PSU banks and media stocks were hammered. However, metals and pharma stocks bucked the trend. After hitting a high of 17,211.35 in early trade, the Nifty 50 index pared gains as the session progressed. The index turned negative in afternoon trade and hit the day's low of 16,938.90 in late trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 344.29 points or 0.59% to 57,555.90. The Nifty 50 index fell 71.15 points or 0.42% to 16,972.15. In five consecutive sessions, the Sensex slipped 4.63% while the Nifty fell 4.41%. Reliance Industries (down 1.74%), HDFC Bank (down 1.54%), HDFC (down 1.18%) and ICICI Bank (down 0.66%) were major drags.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.02% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.10%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,549 shares rose and 1,968 shares fell. A total of 126 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 7.363 from 7.378 in previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.65, compared with its close of 82.37 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement advanced 0.43% to Rs 57,730.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.69% to 104.31.

The United States 10-year bond yield slipped 2.51% to 3.545.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2023 settlement added 18 cents or 0.23% to $77.63 a barrel.

Global Markets:

The Dow Jones futures were down 529 points, indicating a weak opening in the US stock market today.

European markets tumbled while most Asian stocks advanced on Wednesday.

The U.K. is gearing up for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's "Spring Budget" today in which he's expected to announce key pension and child-care reforms as the country continues to battle a cost of living crisis.

China's industrial output rose 2.4% in the January to February period, official data showed. Retail sales rose 3.5% for the same period. The People's Bank of China kept the rate on 481 billion yuan of one-year medium-term lending facility loans at 2.75%.

US stocks bounced back on Tuesday as largely on-target inflation data and easing jitters over contagion in the banking sector cooled expectations regarding the size of the rate hike at the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week.

Underlying US consumer prices rose in February by the most in five months. The consumer price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.5% last month and 5.5% from a year earlier, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Tuesday. The overall CPI climbed 0.4% in February and 6% from a year earlier.

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday revised its outlook on the US banking system to "negative" from "stable", citing heightened risks for the sector after the rapid unraveling of SVB Financial Group fueled fears of contagion. Moody's also said it was expecting the Federal Reserve to continue tightening monetary policy, in contrast to some others who are expecting the bank collapses this month to reshape the trajectory for interest rate hikes.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Maruti Suzuki India fell 0.51%. Suzuki Motor Corporation bought 345,000 shares of Maruti Suzuki from the open market on Tuesday (14 March 2023). The transaction has increased the Japanese company's stake in Maruti Suzuki to 56.48% from 56.37%.

KPIT Technologies surged 8.96% after the company announced its partnership with Honda to realize the journey of Honda's Software-Defined Mobility (SDM).

Ramkrishna Forgings jumped 6% after the company's consortium with Titagarh Wagons emerged as the lowest (L-1) bidder for supply of forged wheels to the Ministry of Railways, Government of India. The consortium has to manufacture and supply around 15,40,000 wheels to the Indian Railways over a period of twenty years.

KPI Green Energy rallied 3.65% after the company received the commissioning certificate from Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) for capacity of 31 MWdc solar power project under its Captive Power Producer (CPP) segment.

GMR Airports Infrastructure added 4.66% after the company said that its board will meet on 17 March 2023 to consider fund raising through appropriate instruments.

PNC Infratech up 1.33% after the company said it bagged a new hybrid annuity highway project of NHAI for a bid project cost of Rs 1260 crore.

Paras Defence and Space Technologies added 2.78% after the firm said that it has entered into MoU with Israel based-CONTROP Precision Technologies, to create new opportunities and expand both parties' business in the Indian and Global Defence sector.