FIRST TRADE: Nifty slips below 20,900, Sensex trades flat; Infy, TCS among top-blue chip losers, down 1%

Stock market today: Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty began Wednesday's session on a sluggish note amid selling pressure in financial and IT stocks. Dalal Street took mixed signals from global markets as caution persisted among investors following a US reading that brought back concerns about inflation and supported bets of delayed cuts in benchmark interest rates ahead of the outcome of the Federal Reserve's policy review due this week.

The Nifty50 declined as much as 28.8 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 20,877.7 within the first few minutes of trade while the Sensex lost 130.2 points, or 0.2 per cent to 69,420.8.

The high-beta Nifty Bank also traded in the red, falling as much as 102 points or 0.22 per cent to 46,995.6.

Meanwhile, broader indices bucked the overall lacklustre trend in the market, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices rising as much as 0.11 per cent and 0.30 per cent, respectively.

Here's a list of stocks that were on investors' radar for the day: 

BUZZING STOCKS

• ITC: The cigarettes-to-hotels conglomerate is focussed on the FMCG segment and expects an increase in EBITDA margin by 80-100 bps, it said in a meeting with analysts. Also, for the cigarette space, the company holds a positive outlook in the medium to long term. ITC shares opened at Rs 456.3 on NSE.
• NMDC: Zee Business learned from sources that in the upcoming budget critical minerals may get a boost through the withdrawal of custom duty.  At present, there is a levy of 5-10 per cent custom duty on critical minerals. NMDC clocked a 52-high of Rs 191.9 on NSE.
• Cummins India: The company on Tuesday launched a Data Automated Teller Ultimate Machine (DATUM), an intelligent Fuel Management System, in collaboration with Repos Energy. Cummins will market and distribute the DATUM range of products through its vast distribution network in India. Cummins India shares opened at Rs 1,940 on NSE.
• Wipro: The company inked an agreement with RSA to help accelerate RSA’s migration to the cloud and build a compliant, secure, and scalable IT infrastructure. Wipro shares opened at Rs 423.55 on NSE.
• Axis Bank: There is expected a block deal worth Rs 3700 crore in the counter. Entities associated with Bain Capital are likely to offload 1.1 per cent stake or 3.34 crore equity shares in the private lender. Axis Bank shares opened at Rs 1,150 on NSE.
• Laurus Labs: The drug maker received five observations from the US FDA about a facility of the company's subsidiary, Laurus Synthesis. Laurus Labs shares opened at Rs 376.05 on NSE.

GLOBAL MARKETS 

Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday, while oil prices slid to six-month lows as traders waited for the year's final policy decision from the Federal Reserve and clues on whether the US central bank will cut rates next year. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.4 per cent at the last count while Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.3 per cent.  

Brent bottomed at $72.75 a barrel, its lowest level since late June, while US crude slid to $68.14 a barrel on concerns of softening demand and oversupply. The Fed takes centre stage on Wednesday, where it is due to announce its rate decision at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting.

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