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Stock Market Updates: Losses in banking and financial services shares pulled the markets lowerDomestic shares staged a recovery in the last hour of trade on Wednesday to extend a rally to a tenth day in a row, despite the International Monetary Fund lowering its economic forecast for India for the second time in nearly four months.
The NSE Nifty 50 index ended 169.23 points - or 0.42 per cent - higher at 40,794.74, and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark settled at 11,971.05, up 36.55 points - or 0.31 per cent - from its previous close - both recovering from losses of more than 1 per cent during the session. Wipro, NTPC, Coal India, ONGC and Tata Motors, trading between 3.21 per cent and 5.59 per cent lower, were the worst hit among 34 laggards in the Nifty index. On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, Britannia, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever and Tata Steel, up 0.87-2.10 per cent each, were the top gainers in the basket of 50 shares. Lowering its forecast for India a second time in nearly four months, the IMF said the country's economy will contract 10.3 per cent this year because of the coronavirus pandemic - its biggest contraction since independence.
In June, it had predicted a contraction of 4.5 per cent for the economy. Banking and financial services stocks declined ahead of the Supreme Court's hearing on interest waivers for loans under moratorium. The outcome of the case could have far-reaching consequences not only for millions of borrowers, but also for banks.The Nifty Bank index - which tracks stocks of 12 major lenders in the country - fell as much as 1.09 per cent in morning deals, dragged by SBI, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. Lenders are hoping that borrowers will not be given further respite beyond the waiver on compound interest for loans up to Rs 2 crore for six months, which the government has agreed to pay.Wipro shares slumped nearly 7 per cent, a day after the Bengaluru-based IT major reported its earnings and announced a share buyback plan worth Rs 9,500 crore.
Its net profit rose 3.2 per cent to Rs 2,466 crore in the July-September period compared to the previous quarter.Analysts awaited more large cap earnings for cues with IT major Infosys to report its financial results later in the day.Global market sentiment was dampened after J-J's COVID-19 vaccine trials were halted because of an unexplained illness in a study participant.
