Nifty trades below 18,100; Sensex down 222 pts; IT shares advance

The equity benchmark indices continued to trade with significant cuts in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 18,100 level. IT shares gained for the seventh straight day. Trading is expected to be volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 14:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 222.33 points or 0.36% to 60,823.41. The Nifty 50 index lost 69.20 points or 0.38% to 18,096.15.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.25% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.27%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,495 shares rose, and 1,941 shares fell. A total of 138 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.295 from its close of 7.325 recorded in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 81.375, compared with its close of 81.30 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 3 February 2023 settlement added 0.27% to Rs 56,437.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.20% to 102.16.

The United States 10-year bond yield fell 0.75% to 3.350.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2023 settlement declined 82 cents or 0.96% to $84.16 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 0.22% to 29,682.80. The index jumped 4.14% in seven trading sessions.

Persistent Systems (up 7.44%), Coforge (up 1.13%), Mphasis (up 0.63%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.41%) advanced.

On the other hand, LTI Mindtree (down 0.73%), L&T Technology Services (down 0.61%) and HCL Technologies (down 0.32%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Cosmo First jumped 5.36% after the company's board approved buyback worth upto Rs 108 crore at a price not exceeding Rs 1,070 each. The indicative maximum number of equity shares to be bought back under the buyback would be 10,09,345 equity shares, representing approximately 3.70% of the existing paid-up equity share capital of the company.

KIOCL rose 0.70% after the company executed mining lease deed document with Government of Karnataka for amount of Rs 329.17 crore.

PTC India Financial Services (PFS) was locked in upper circuit of 5% after the company's board approved the selection of S Gopal as a director (finance) and chief financial officer (CFO) of the company.

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