Weakness continued on the bourses in mid-morning trade. At 11:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 375.22 points or 1.48% at 25,031.11. The 50-unit Nifty 50 index was currently down 118.70 points or 1.53% at 7,622.30. The Sensex regained the psychological 25,000 level after falling below that mark in morning trade. A fresh rout in Chinese stocks pulled Asian markets lower. Trading was halted in mainland China after China's central bank continued to fix the onshore yuan's value lower to the US dollar.
The Sensex hit its lowest level in more than 3 weeks when it lost 415.09 points or 1.63% at the day's low of 24,991.24 in morning trade. The barometer index fell 175.98 points or 0.69% at the day's high of 25,230.35 at the onset of the trading session. The Nifty hit its lowest level in more than 3 weeks when it fell 128.75 points or 1.66% at the day's low of 7,612.25 in morning trade. The index lost 66.05 points or 0.85% at the day's high of 7,674.95 at the onset of the trading session.
The broad market depicted weakness. There were more than three losers against every gainer on BSE. 1,920 shares declined and 527 shares rose. A total of 87 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently off 1.74%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently off 2.02%. The decline in both these indices was higher than Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
In overseas stock markets, trading in mainland China was suspended for the rest of the day after the CSI 300 index tumbled more than 7% in early trade, triggering the market's circuit breaker for a second time this week. China's central bank again surprised markets by setting onshore yuan's value lower to the US dollar, deepening concerns about the economy and sending the domestic stock markets tumbling. The People's Bank of China continued to fix the onshore yuan's value lower to the US dollar, at 6.5646, down 0.51% from the previous day's closing level, the biggest move since 13 August 2015, after the yuan's devaluation.
US stock futures pointed to losses for US stocks at the opening bell. Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow Jones Industrial Average could slide 193.50 points at the opening bell. US stocks closed sharply lower yesterday, 6 January 2015, pressured by continued concerns about global economic growth, declining oil prices and increased geopolitical tensions.
Shares of oil exploration and production (E&P) companies edged lower along with decline in global crude oil price. Cairn India (down 5.57%), Oil India (down 2.56%), ONGC (down 4.17%) and Reliance Industries (down 0.69%) declined. Lower crude oil prices would result in lower realizations from crude sales for oil exploration firms.
Shares of state-run oil marketing companies also declined. BPCL (down 0.71%) and HPCL (down 0.63%) edged lower. Indian Oil Corporation (up 0.14%) edged higher.
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In the global commodities markets, Brent crude oil prices declined sharply. Brent for February settlement was currently off 82 cents at $33.41 a barrel. The contract had lost $2.19 a barrel or 6.01% to settle at $34.23 a barrel during the previous trading session.
IT stocks edged lower. HCL Technologies (down 1.3%), Infosys (down 0.53%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.79%), TCS (down 0.6%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.49%) and Wipro (down 0.44%) declined.
L&T fell 2.02% at Rs 1,214.60 on concerns that the slowdown in the Middle East due to the crash in crude oil prices could affect the company's revenues. According to reports, the Middle East region contributes about 25-30% to the L&T's international order book. The consolidated order book for the L&T group rose 14% to Rs 244097 crore as at 30 September 2015 compared with order book as on 30 September 2014. International order book constituted 28% of the consolidated order book.
InterGlobe Aviation rose 1.5% at Rs 1,253 on reports the company launched 24 new flights on its domestic network which include first daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram. The introduction of these new flights would help IndiGo cross 650 flights mark as it would offer a total of 671 flights per day connecting 39 destinations, reports added. InterGlobe Aviation is the operator of low cost passenger airline IndiGo.
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