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Daily market commentary 20 February 2023 by Mr. Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Nifty opened positive in line with Asian peers but soon drifted into red on account of caution ahead of Fed minutes due to be released on Wednesday. It finally closed with loss of 100 points (-0.6%) at 17845 levels. Broader markets were resilient with Midcap 100 up +0.1% while Smallcap100 was down just -0.3%. Barring Auto & IT, rest all the sectors ended in red. Global sentiments are weak due to concerns regarding the prolonged aggressive rate cycle which could impact economic growth. US Fed minutes that would be released on Wednesday is likely to throw light on further course of action where investors expect the hawkish stance to continue. Even RBI’s MPC minutes would be released later this week which is expected to follow Fed’s footstep. If the rate hikes sustain for long, it might have an repercussion on the corporate earnings which haven’t seen meaningful downgrade so far. We expect market to remain sideways due to lack of fresh positive triggers.

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