Indian stock markets ended the day in the red following losses in Asian Markets and the hope of the Federal Reserve rate cuts this year being void due to strong economic numbers coming out of the US on a Wednesday.

By 12:20 PM, the BSE Sensex fell to 77,589 which is a drop of 612 points, while the Nifty 50 further fell to 23,540 with a decline of 167 points. Poor signs from global markets started putting pressure on investor sentiments.

US Economic data reported that the service sector started to gain traction during the month of December and job openings in November were up to a record high. The combination of factors compromised the US economy’s Federal Reserve policy. Rates for rate cuts in 2025 were instead predicted to slow down to just one rather than the expected two as shown before.

Leader And Worst Performers:

As for the Sensex pack, Zomato, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, and NTPC were among the largest losers with a decline of up to 2 percent. The market did witness some support with Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, M&M, TCS, and Maruti Suzuki registering some gains.

Shares of Ola Electric Mobility are down nearly four percent in early trade as Indian regulator SEBI has issued a notice to them for violating disclosure norms.

Why Do It Stocks See A Drop:

IT stocks that are sensitive to the US rate such as Persistent Systems, Coforge and Tech Mahindra declined by up to 2 percent after US job openings increased in November which signals a more stable labour market that would require the Federal reserve to wait longer before cutting rates.

Asian Markets In The Same Boat:

The Asian markets were also under investors selling pressure with Japan’s Nikkei index dropping by 0.8 percent while regional markets were slightly lower with MSCI's broad index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan dropping by 0.2 percent. The other shock was delivered by the Hang Seng Index, which fell by 0.55 percent while China’s CSI300 Index fell by 0.3 percent. These markets were dented mostly due to the strong US dollar and the expectations of later rate cuts.  

FII And DII Action:

On January 7, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,491.46 crores while domestic institutional investors on the other hand remained net buyers in equities amounting to Rs 1,615.28 crores.