Sensex below 60,000 level, oil & gas stocks decline

The key equity indices reversed gains and slipped into the negative terrain in morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,850 mark after the hitting the day's high of 17,945.80 in early trade. The Sensex traded below the key 60,000 level. Oil & gas shares extended losses for the third consecutive trading session.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 301.03 points or 0.50% to 59,804.47. The Nifty 50 index lost 79.55 points or 0.44% to 17,816.15.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.10% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.04%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,495 shares rose and 1,646 shares fell. A total of 162 shares were unchanged.

Investors look ahead to the U.S. consumer price index report due later in the day. The December CPI report will inform investors as to whether the Federal Reserve needs to move forward with more aggressive interest rate hikes to tame inflation, or if the central bank can pull back as inflation is showing signs of steadily cooling off.

On the macro front, the Industrial Production and Manufacturing Production data for November will be released today. Inflation rate for December will also be declared today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell 0.85% to 8,460.05. The index declined 1.32% in three trading sessions.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 2.94%), Indian Oil Corporation (down 2.03%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.59%), Reliance Industries (down 1.04%), Gujarat Gas (down 0.99%), Adani Total Gas (down 0.89%), Petronet LNG (down 0.63%), GAIL (India) (down 0.46%), Aegis Logistics (down 0.06%) and Indraprastha Gas (down 0.01%) edged lower.

On the other hand, Oil India (up 1.28%) ,Gujarat State Petronet (up 0.29%) and Mahanagar Gas (up 0.14%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

IIFL Wealth Management advanced 2.14% after the company said that its board will consider a proposal of split of shares and issue of bonus shares in its meeting to be held on 19 January 2022.

The board will also mull standalone and consolidated unaudited financial results for the quarter and nine months ended 31 December 2022. Further, the board will also consider declaration of fourth interim dividend, if any, for the financial year 2022-23, to the equity shareholders of the company.

Container Corporation of India added 0.25%. The company said that its total throughput in quarter ended December 2022 was 10,85,154 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs), up by 5.18% from 10,31,701 TEUs recorded in the same period last year. While the company's export-import (EXIM) volumes rose by 0.62% to 8,33,796 TEUs, domestic (DOM) volumes jumped by 23.80% to 2,51,358 TEUs in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

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