Sensex drops 627 pts; Nifty below 16,400

The benchmark indices continued to trade with steep losses in the mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty once again slipped below the 16,400 mark. Oil & gas and auto shares bucked the trend while the consumer durables, media and realty shares tumbled. Negative global cues and continuous selling by the FIIs dented sentiment. Investors were also cautious ahead of RBI's policy outcome on Wednesday and the US inflation data expected on Friday.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 627.59 points or 1.13% to 55,047.73. The Nifty 50 index declined 174.40 points or 1.05% at 16,395.15.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index lost 1.22% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was slipped 0.71%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1,207 shares rose and 2,020 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is meeting from 6th to 8th June 2022. After the 40 basis points off-cycle rate hike on 4 May 2022, RBI is widely expected to increase the policy rate further.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 7.533% as compared with 7.5% at close in the previous trading session. The yield rose to its highest levels in three years ahead of RBI policy announcement due tomorrow.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 77.7250, compared with its close of 77.66 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 August 2022 settlement fell 0.07% to Rs 50,836.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.10% to 102.54.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for August 2022 settlement rose 41 cents or 0.34% at $119.92 a barrel. Oil prices inched higher on expected demand recovery in China as it relaxed tough Covid curbs.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 0.78% to 8,095.40. The index advanced 3.82% in four trading sessions amid firm crude oil prices.

Among the components of the Nifty Oil & Gas index, Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 5.26%), Oil India (up 4.21%), GAIL (India) (up 2.19%), Adani Total Gas (up 1.07%) and Reliance Industries up 0.48%) were the top gainers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones declined 1.07% to Rs 733. Fitch Ratings has affirmed Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones' (APSEZ) long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) at 'BBB-'. The outlook is 'negative', the credit rating agency stated. Fitch Ratings said that APSEZ's underlying credit profile reflects its status as India's largest commercial port operator, with best-in-class operational efficiency. The issuer has shown throughput resilience throughout economic cycles, including the current Covid-19 pandemic-related downturn.

IRB Infrastructure Developers fell 1.38% to Rs 224.30. The company on Monday announced that it has offered Vadodara to Kim Expressway project, being developed under Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), to IRB InvIT Fund. The Vadodara Kim stretch, which is part of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME), is 23.740 km-long and has project cost outlay of Rs 2,094 crore. The project recently received provisional COD and is revenue generating. IRB Infra's board approved the preliminary non-binding proposal for transfer of the said project to the IRB InvIT Fund, which is a publicly offered and listed Infrastructure Investment Trust sponsored by the company.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News