Sensex down 100 points, Nifty opens below 12,350; HCL Tech, TCS, Gail major gainers

Mumbai: Ahead of the signing of an initial trade deal between US and China, Indian equity indices on Wednesday (January 15) opened with a weak start. The Sensex began 94.08 points down or 0.22% at 41858.55, and the Nifty too started 35.50 points down or 0.29% at 12326.80. Among major gainers on the indices were HCL Tech, TCS, Gail, and Hero MotoCorp, while Yes Bank, Mindtree, IndusInd Bank, Wipro, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, and Vedanta were the top losers.

Notably, Wipro shares were in focus today as the IT major reported its earnings for the third quarter of the current financial year on Tuesday. Its net profit came in at Rs 2,455.9 crore for the quarter ended December 31, down 3.79 per cent compared with the previous quarter. 

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Meanwhile, stocks were steady in early Asian trade on Wednesday as investors awaited the signing of an initial US-China trade deal, with sentiment somewhat dented by comments from the US Treasury Secretary`s that tariffs would remain in place for now.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.13%, Japan`s benchmark Nikkei and South Korea`s Kospi shed 0.29% and 0.48%, respectively, while Australian stocks added 0.33%.

Wall Street stocks dipped on Tuesday, reversing earlier intraday record highs after media reported the United States would likely maintain tariffs on Chinese goods past November`s presidential election. 

In the currency market, however, the Japanese yen reversed earlier losses against the dollar as news U.S. tariffs would remain on Chinese goods through the US election hurt risk sentiment.

The yen was last changing hands at 109.95 yen to the dollar, flat on the day, after hitting its weakest in near 8 months of 110.22 yen previous day. The euro was last traded at $1.1129 , also little changed on the day.

The offshore yuan weakened to 6.899, after rising to 6.865 per dollar, the strongest since July 11, on Tuesday. The dollar index against a basket of currencies was flat at 97.367. 

Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday after five days of declines as the United States and China prepared to sign the preliminary trade deal and as Middle East tensions eased. 

(With Agency Inputs)