Domestic shares tumbled on Wednesday, amid broader selling pressure. Pharma and healthcare stocks were in demand due to renewed fears of a Covid outbreak in China, the US, and other countries. IT shares also witnessed bargain hunting. However, global shares were positive ahead of the release of the US GDP numbers on Thursday.
The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 635.05 points or 1.03% to 61,067.24. The Nifty 50 index declined 186.20 points or 1.01% to 18,199.10.
Adani Enterprises (down 6.27%), Reliance Industries (down 1.40%), ICICI Bank (down 1.88%), HDFC (down 1.67%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.86%) dragged the indices.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 1.40% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 2.18%.
Seller outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 786 shares rose and 2,765 shares fell. A total of 114 shares were unchanged.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, surged 12.93% to 15.56.
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Healthcare stocks rallied on Covid scare. Thyrocare Technologies (up 14.85%), IoL Chemicals and Pharma (up 14.16%), Vijaya Diagnostic Centre (up 11.74%), Panacea Biotec (up 9.50%), Solara Active Pharma Sciences (up 8.60%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 7.76%) and Divi's Laboratories (up 5.01%) rallied.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday said Covid-19 is not over yet and asked people to be on alert. Mandaviya chaired a review meeting with health officials on the Covid-19 situation amid a spurt in global cases and said the government is prepared to manage any situation.
"Covid is not over yet. I have directed all concerned to be alert and strengthen surveillance. We are prepared to manage any situation," the minister tweeted today after the review meeting.
SEBI tweaks buyback rules:
On Tuesday, market regulator SEBI said it will allow listed companies to utilise 75% of their surplus funds for share buybacks instead of 50% earlier. SEBI has said that these buybacks will be slowly phased out from the secondary market exchange platforms and conducted on a separate window. This is to ensure transparency in the tender process. SEBI said it will also cut the time for share buyback to 66 days from the present 90-day period.
Numbers to Track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.287 as compared with 7.299 at close in the previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.7900, compared with its close of 82.7075 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 3 February 2023 settlement rose 0.22% to Rs 55,020.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.11% 104.07.
The United States 10-year bond yield was trading flat at 3.684.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2023 settlement added 88 cents or 1.10% to $80.87 a barrel.
Global Markets:
The Dow Jones futures were up 236 points, indicating a positive opening in the US stock market today.
Markets in Europe rallied while Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday after Wall Street ended its four-day losing streak as global bonds rose after the Bank of Japan adjusted its yield curve control tolerance.
Germany's consumer sentiment is set to show a small improvement in January, according to the forward-looking index released by the GfK institute earlier Wednesday. The index came in at -37.8, showing a small but gradual improvement from the revised -40.1 the prior month, and October's -42.8, the lowest reading in over a decade, as government energy measures helped stabilize morale.
US stocks closed slightly higher on Tuesday after four sessions of declines, but investors fretted about weak holiday shopping and rising bond yields added pressure after the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) surprise tweak of monetary policy.
The Bank of Japan on 20 December held its benchmark rate at record lows, but widened the range for yield fluctuations in the benchmark government bonds. This move has been taken as a step toward the country leaving behind its policy of yield curve control and near-zero interest rates as the country grapples with surging inflation.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Jubilant FoodWorks rose 0.04%. The QSR chain operator announced on Tuesday that the 20-minute delivery has been introduced in 20 zones across 14 cities in India.
City Union Bank tumbled 5.24% after the bank said that the Reserve Bank of India has discovered divergence in additional gross NPA for the financial year ended March 2022, amounting to Rs 259 crore. The RBI conducted the on-site Inspection for Supervisory Evaluation (ISE) for the ended March 2022 from 7 October 2022 to 18 November 2022 and the final meeting concluded on 19 December 2022.
The private lender bank stated that divergence to the tune of Rs 259 crore consists of 13 borrower accounts with an outstanding balance of more than Rs 1 crore for an amount of Rs 230 crore and 218 borrowers with an outstanding balance of less than Rs 1 crore for an amount of Rs 29 crore. Out of these 231 borrowers, five accounts have already been classified as NPAs by the bank during first half of FY23 and 57 accounts stand close.
Bharti Airtel declined 1.67%. The telecom major on Tuesday announced that it has acquired about 8% stake in technology startup, Immensitas (Lemnisk) under its Start Up Accelerator Program. Lemnisk is a Bengaluru based start up that offers real-time marketing automation and secure customer data platform (CDP) capable of orchestrating 1-to-1 personalization and cross-channel customer journeys at scale that increases conversions, retention, and growth for enterprises.
GAIL (India) slipped 2.66%. GAIL and Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) signed a time charter contract for a newbuilding LNG carrier and a joint ownership of an existing LNG carrier. The existing vessel still has been chartered to GAIL through a wholly owned MOL subsidiary from 2021 and even now, MOL's shipping service is highly regarded by GAIL. At this time, MOL and GAIL reached an agreement to share the vessel by transferring a portion of a wholly owned MOL subsidiary's shares to GAIL.
Separately, GAIL (India) announced that it issued 15,750, 7.34% Senior, unsecured, listed, rated, taxable, non-cumulative, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (series-I) of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs 1,575 crore on private placement basis on 20 December 2022.
Spandana Sphoorty Financial hit a lower circuit of 5%. The company's board approved issue of non-convertible debentures having face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating up to Rs 300 crore in three rounds. Under each round, the company will issue 1,000 senior, secured, rated, listed, redeemable, non-convertible debentures having face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating up to Rs 100 crore. The rate of interest is fixed at 11.355 per annum.
IPO Updates:
The initial public offer (IPO) of KFin Technologies received bids for 6,14,67,480 shares as against 2,37,75,215 shares on offer, according to stock exchange data at 17:15 IST on Wednesday (21 December 2022). The issue was subscribed 2.59 times.
The issue opened for bidding on Monday (19 December 2022) and it will close on Wednesday (21 December 2022). The price band of the IPO is fixed at Rs 347-366 per share. An investor can bid for a minimum of 40 equity shares and in multiples thereof.
The IPO of Elin Electronics received bids for 1,34,54,580 shares as against 1,42,09,386 shares on offer, according to stock exchange data at 17:00 IST on Wednesday (21 December 2022). The issue was subscribed 95%.
The issue opened for bidding on Tuesday (20 December 2022) and it will close on Thursday (22 December 2022). The price band of the IPO is fixed at Rs 234-247 per share. An investor can bid for a minimum of 60 equity shares and in multiples thereof.
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