Indian equity benchmarks inch lower as oil climbs; Jio makes strong debut

Indian share benchmarks inched lower on Wednesday as rising oil prices weighed on risk appetite, while Jio Platforms hogged the limelight after its blockbuster listing ranked it as the second-biggest company in the country by market capitalisation.

The Nifty 50 fell 0.22% to 22,698.85, and the Sensex shed 0.48% to 73,246.03. They had fallen more than 1% during the day.

Telecoms and digital company Jio Platforms jumped about 27% to 1,417.5 rupees on NSE, giving it a valuation of $137.31 billion, second only to its parent Reliance Industries in India.

The broader sentiment remained mixed, with seven of the 16 major sectors logging losses. The broader small-caps and mid-caps gained 0.9% and 0.4%.

“We are not seeing any directional strength in the market, as the global macroeconomic environment remains challenging amid higher crude oil prices. This trend is likely to persist until oil prices come down,” said Pankaj Pandey, head of retail research at Securities.

Oil prices climbed 0.5% to about $115 a barrel after an attack on a refinery in top exporter Saudi Arabia renewed concerns about energy supply disruptions and inflation.

The focus globally has shifted to the US Federal Reserve, which is likely to keep interest rates steady later on Wednesday, before resuming its monetary tightening in December amid inflationary pressures, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the US, dropped 2%, among top sectoral losers.

Reliance Industries dropped 3.2% even as Jio Platforms made a stellar debut.

“Reliance has been on a downward trend this year, and the drop today alongside Jio’s listing shows that investors who held the conglomerate’s shares for opportunities in its digital business, may now prefer to directly hold Jio Platforms,” said Aamar Deo Singh, senior vice president at Angel One.

Among other stocks, Nifty constituents Larsen & Toubro and SBI Life Insurance jumped 3.7% and 2.1%, respectively, after strong quarterly earnings.