Indices trade with major cuts; Sensex drops 522 pts

The domestic equity barometers continued to trade with major losses in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 18,100 mark. All the sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the red.

At 14:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 521.8 points or 0.85% to 60,772.40. The Nifty 50 index lost 152.75 points or 0.84% to 18,079.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.91% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.67%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,191 shares rose and 2,252 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 58.5 in December from 56.4 in November, highlighting the strongest rate of expansion since mid-2022. Companies commonly linked the upturn to robust intakes of new work and favourable market conditions.

Meanwhile, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index rose from 56.7 in November to 59.4 in December, highlighting the quickest rate of growth since January 2012. Indian private sector firms signalled a strong performance at the end of 2022, with manufacturers and service providers recording faster expansions in output.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.313 from its close of 7.321 recorded in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.805, compared with its close of 83.005 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 3 February 2023 settlement added 0.72% to Rs 55,930.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.47% 104.03.

The United States 10-year bond yield fell 2.54% to 3.696.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2023 settlement shed $1.39 or 1.69% to $80.71 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index fell 0.92% to 1,982.75. The index slipped 1.62% in the two trading sessions.

Nazara Technologies (down 2.82%), Dish TV India (down 2.13%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 1.14%), Sun TV Network (down 1.12%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 0.87%), TV18 Broadcast (down 0.8%), Navneet Education (down 0.78%), Inox Leisure (down 0.51%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Orient Cement jumped 5.74%. In its clarification to the bourses today, 4 January 2023, Orient Cement said: "With regard to the captioned news item, we wish to state that the Company is not privy to any such discussion, and therefore cannot comment on the same. We further wish to clarify that at present there is no material information/announcement, including impending announcement, which in the opinion of the Company may have a bearing on the price/ volume behaviour of the scrip."

Gland Pharma rose 0.63%. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) conducted its pre-market inspection covering quality system/current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) regulations for medical devices at Gland Pharma's Dundigal facility in Hyderabad. The pharma company said that it has now received Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the Office of Product Evaluation and Quality Center for Devices and Radiological Health, US FDA indicating closure of the inspection.

Allcargo Logistics advanced 1.55% after the company informed that its wholly owned step-down subsidiary AGL N.V. has entered into an agreement to acquire Asiapac Equity Investment for $4.99 million.

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