INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Indian equity benchmarks fell for a fourth session on Wednesday as investors looked to the United States Federal Reserve for signs on
the pace of tapering, while recent debutant Paytm slid after a lock-in period for institutional investors expired.The NSE Nifty 50 index was
down 0.66 at 17,210 by 12:51 pm, with IT stocks leading the fall
The S-P BSE Sensex slipped 0.63 per cent to 57,752.The blue-chip indexes have declined more than 7 per cent from record highs hit in
October, but are still outperforming Asian peers with gains of more than 21 per cent so far this year.Investors were looking for clues on
when the Fed will stop buying assets and start raising interest rates, while a rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant also weighed
on sentiment."There is a palpable fear about a 'Powell Pivot' and Fed's pace of unwinding the taper," said independent market analyst Ajay
Commentary about United States rate increases would be key as they could potentially lead to fund outflows from countries with a twin
deficit like India, he added.The Indian rupee slipped as much as 0.3 per cent to 76.11 against the dollar, its weakest level since June
2020.A lack of concern among the public about the rapid spread of Omicron also raises the risk of overwhelming the healthcare system again,
Bodke said.In Mumbai, the Nifty IT index dropped up to 1.5 per cent, with Tata Consultancy Services falling as much as 1.8 per cent to a
one-week low.Heavyweight shadow lenders Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv slipped 2 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.One97
Communications, parent of digital payments firm Paytm, dropped 13% to its lowest since Nov
22, following a dismal market debut on Nov
18.Meanwhile, SpiceJet rose as much as 3.4 per cent after the budget airline said it entered a settlement agreement with a Canadian aircraft
