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Benchmarks off day's high; breadth negative

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Capital Market
Last Updated : Aug 18 2021 | 11:50 AM IST
The equity benchmarks came off day's high in mid-morning trade. The Nifty hovered above the 16,650 mark. FMCG, IT and pharma shares advanced while metal and media stocks declined.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 228.96 points or 0.41% at 56,021.66. The Nifty 50 index gained 58.40 points or 0.35% at 16,673.45.

The Sensex hit record high of 56,099.61 while the Nifty scaled record high of 16,701.35 in morning trade.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.39% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.14%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1286 shares rose and 1696 shares fell. A total of 119 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 208,554,450 with 4,381,805 global deaths.

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India reported 367,415 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 432,519 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

India reported 35,178 new cases in last 24 hours. Active cases constituted 1.14% of total cases, lowest since March 2020. India's active caseload of 3,67,415 is lowest in 148 days. Recovery rate stood at 97.52%, highest since March 2020. 56.06 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under nationwide vaccination drive.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index declined 0.51% to 5,720. The index has lost nearly 3% in two days.

Vedanta (down 1.67%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.05%), Hindalco Industries (down 0.85%), Steel Authority of India (down 0.35%) and Hindustan Zinc (down 0.3%) were the top losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Interglobe Aviation declined 0.18%. ICRA downgraded its long-term rating on InterGlobe Aviation to "[ICRA] A" from "[ICRA] A+", while the outlook remains 'negative'. The ratings agency has, however, reaffirmed the company's short-term rating at "[ICRA] A1". ICRA expects the Indian airline industry to remain adversely impacted in the near-term and recovery in passenger traffic and yields to be gradual. In line with the industry, profitability of the company is also vulnerable to volatility in fuel prices and foreign exchange.

ISGEC Heavy Engineering rose 0.53%. The company said that it has bagged an order for two gas fired boilers from Naval Project, Indian Navy. The scope of work includes manufacturing of two 40 tons per hour (TPH) boilers on a turnkey basis.

Global Markets:

Asian shares rose across the board on Wednesday as investors reacted to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's interest rate decision.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced Wednesday that it would keep its monetary settings unchanged, leaving the official cash rate at 0.25%. In a release, the New Zealand central bank said the decision was "made in the context" of the government's imposition of a nationwide lockdown. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the lockdown on Wednesday following the discovery of a Covid case in Auckland.

Japan's government on Tuesday decided to extend the Covid-19 state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas to September 12, as per reports.

U.S. stock indexes fell Tuesday as July retail sales declined and concerns about slowing global economic growth intensified. Spending at U.S. retailers fell sharply in July, amid cooling purchases of goods and signs of some pullback in consumer demand as U.S. Covid-19 cases tied to the Delta variant rose. Retail sales declined 1.1% in July, a reversal from June's 0.7% increase, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

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First Published: Aug 18 2021 | 11:33 AM IST

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