Market Wrap, Feb 13: Sensex slips 106 pts, Nifty ends at 12,175

Benchmark indices snapped two days of gain and inched lower on Thursday as investors reassessed the scope of the coronavirus outbreak after China's Hubei province reported a record rise in the death toll. A surprise drop in industrial output for December and a rise in January inflation to a six-year high also dampened sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex dipped 106 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 41,460 levels. IndusInd Bank (down 3.5 per cent), Tata Steel (down nearly 2 per cent), and ONGC (down around 2 per cent) were the top laggards in the Sensex pack. On the other hand, Titan (up over 2 per cent), SBI (up over 2 per cent) and Infosys (up around 1.5 per cent) gained the most.

The broader Nifty50 index gave up the 12,200 mark to settle at 12,175, down 27 points, or 0.22 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty Private Bank index fell around 1.4 per cent to 17,083 levels. Nifty Bank slid 0.8 per cent to 31,230 points. On the upside, pharma and IT stocks advanced the most. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap slipped 23 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 15,766 and the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended at 14,727, down 0.03 per cent. 

Buzzing Stocks
 

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the recently-listed online ticketing, tourism and the catering arm of railways, jumped over 12 per cent on Thursday, a day after the company posted strong set of numbers for the quarter ended December 31, 2019. 1579.95  (11.35%)

YES Bank gained over 5 per cent to Rs 37.20 on the BSE on Thursday after the bank said it is in talks with potential investors, including J.C. Flowers and Silver Point Capital, for raising equity capital. 37.20  2.00 (5.68%)

Shares of Wockhardt slumped as much as 5.3 per cent to Rs 347.55 on the BSE on Thursday after Dr Reddy's Laboratories entered into a definitive agreement with the company to acquire select divisions of its branded generics business.349.80 (-4.73%)

GLOBAL MARKETS

In broader Asian markets, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was trading flat. China’s Hubei province reported 242 new deaths and 14,840 new cases as of Wednesday.

Oil prices were mixed on Thursday as concerns about falling demand caused by travel restrictions tied to the coronavirus outbreak in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, outweighed expectations of supply cuts from major producers.

Brent crude fell 6 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $55.73 per barrel at 0735 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 5 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $51.22 a barrel. Brent rose 3.2 per cent on Wednesday while WTI gained 2.5 per cent as a slowdown in new Chinese coronavirus cases boosted expectations of a demand recovery.