The domestic equity benchmarks ended with deep cuts after a weak session on Friday. After opening at 17,877.20, the Nifty edged lower as heavy selling emerged and hit the day's low at 17,493.55 in mid-afternoon trade. Bargain buying emerged at lower levels and the Nifty managed to close above 17,600 mark. Oil & gas, metals and bank stocks declined while auto, pharma and FMCG shares managed to end in the green.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 874.16 points or 1.45% to 59,330.90. The Nifty 50 index slumped 287.60 points or 1.61% to 17,604.35.

Concurrently, the NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, zoomed 18.18% to 17.32.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.29% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.89%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 904 shares rose, and 2,652 shares fell. A total of 102 shares were unchanged.

Meanwhile, shares of Adani Group companies continued to witness steep selling pressure for second trading session after US-based Hindenburg Research LLC said it shorted Adani Group companies due to brazen market manipulation and accounting fraud.

Adani Total Gas (down 20%), Adani Green Energy (down 20%), Adani Transmission (down 20%), Adani Enterprises (down 18.52%), Ambuja Cements (down 17.16%), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (down 15.17%), ACC (down 13.04%), Adani Wilmar (down 5%), Adani Power (down 5%) and slumped. Further,

Hindenburg, an US-based investment research firm that specializes in activist short-selling, made wide-ranging allegations of corporate malpractice following a two-year investigation into the Adani group companies.

The Ahmedabad-headquarter group said 21 of the questions raised were responded in the public disclosures made in its 2015 Adani Portfolio presentation. It added that as far as accounting or fraud assertions investigation made by Hindenburg, it is devoid of facts.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas tumbled 5.54%% to 7,960.90. The index has lost 7.78% in three sessions.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 5.74%), Oil & Natural Gas Corp (down 3.12%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 2.86%) and Aegis Logistics (down 2.67%) were the top losers.

Among the other losers were Gujarat Gas (down 2.5%), Reliance Industries (down 1.76%), GAIL (India) (down 1.73%), Mahanagar Gas (down 1.73%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 1.64%).

On the other hand, Oil India (up 1.78%), Indraprastha Gas (up 1.37%) and Petronet LNG (up 0.33%) moved up.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bajaj Auto jumped 5.83%. The two-wheeler maker's consolidated net profit rose 3.01% to Rs 1,472.70 crore on 3.29% increase in total revenue from operations to Rs 9,318.54 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Tata Motors zoomed 6.22%. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,957.71 crore in Q3 FY23 as against a net loss of Rs 1,516.14 crore in Q3 FY22. Total revenue from operations increased 22.5% YoY to Rs 88,488.59 crore during the quarter.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose 2.78%. The drug major's consolidated net profit jumped 76.52% to Rs 1,247.1 crore on 27.26% rise in revenues to Rs 6,770 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

LTIMindtree shed 0.81%. The company announced that it has partnered with Duck Creek Technologies, the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property and casualty (P&C) insurance, and Microsoft to build a solution that will enable insurers to migrate their onpremises core systems to the cloud in a quick and efficient manner.

DLF rose 1.42%. The real estate developer reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 517.94 crore in Q3 FY23 as against a net profit of Rs 379.49 crore in Q3 FY22. Total income increased to Rs 1,559.66 crore from Rs 1,686.92 crore.

Blue Dart Express fell 3.32%. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 88.70 crore in Q3 FY23 as against a net profit of Rs 123.4 crore in Q3 FY22. Revenue from operations increased to Rs 1337.1 crore from Rs 1254.8 crore.

SJVN slipped 1.30%. The company has sold its entire stake in the Bhutanese Joint Venture Company i.e, Kholongchhu Hydro Energy Limited (KHEL) as per the directions received from the Ministry of Power, Government of India. Consideration received from such sale / disposal is Rs 354.71 crore.

Tata Elxsi rose 0.75%. The design led technology service provider reported a 29% rise in net profit to Rs 194.68 crore on 28.7% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 817.74 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Chennai Petroleum Corporation jumped 5.49%. The company's standalone net profit declined 37.5% to Rs 142.95 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 228.83 crore recorded in Q3 FY22. Net sales surged 61.5% to Rs 16,054.44 in the quarter ended 31 December 2022 from Rs 9,939.29 crore posted in the corresponding quarter previous year.Patanjali Foods hit an lower circuit of 5%. The FMCG company's net profit rose 15% to Rs 269.19 crore on 26.2% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 7,926.64 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Global Markets:

Markets in Europe and Asia advanced across the board on Friday, after U.S. economic data came in stronger than expected, and with a slew of rate hike decisions due next week.

Friday will see the release of U.S. data on core inflation, personal income and spending and pending home sales. The U.S. economy expanded by 2.9% year on year during the fourth quarter, beating expectations, though recession fears remain.

In Europe, data is due on French consumer confidence and euro zone household loans. Earlier in the week, the German government as well as research group Ifo said Europe's largest economy would likely avoid a recession this year.

US stocks ended nominally lower on Tuesday at the close of a rocky session marked by a raft of mixed earnings and a technical malfunction at the opening bell.

The downturn in the US business activity eased slightly in January even as it contracted for the seventh straight month, survey showed on Tuesday. S&P Global said its flash US Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, shot off to 46.6 this month from a final reading of 45 in December.

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