The key equity indices edged lower in early trade, as the selling pressure in IT and bank stocks dragged the benchmarks lower. The Nifty traded below the 18,000 mark.
At 09:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 305.62 points or 0.50% to 61,013.89. The Nifty 50 index lost 69.30 points or 0.38% to 17,966.55.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.17% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.16%
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,399 shares rose and 1,079 shares fell. A total of 132 shares were unchanged.
Stocks in Spotlight:
UltraTech Cement rose 2.71% The company announced commissioning of 1.30 mtpa brownfield cement capacity at Hirmi, Chhattisgarh and 2.80 mtpa greenfield grinding capacity at Cuttack, Odisha. With this commissioning the company's total cement manufacturing capacity in India now stands at 126.95 mtpa.
Vedanta added 0.62%. The company has been declared as the 'Preferred Bidder' in respect of e‐auction of Kelwardabri Nickel (Ni), Chromium (Cr) and Associated Platinum Group Elements (PGE) Block based on highest Final Price Offer of 4.15% submitted by the Company.
RailTel Corporation of India advanced 1.72%. The company has received the work order from Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation for Supply, Installation Testing and Commissioning of the IT network infrastructure amounting to Rs. 27.07 crore (excluding taxes) and Comprehensive Annual Maintenance Contract amounting to Rs. 6.22 crore (excluding taxes) per year for 5 years extendable to 10 years.
Numbers to track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.30% to 7.364 from 7.342 previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.7400, compared with its close of 82.7025 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement lost 0.57% to Rs 55,907.
The United States 10-year bond yield advanced 1.12% to 3.886.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.43% to 104.30.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2023 settlement lost 66 cents or 0.78% to $84.48 a barrel.
Global markets:
Asian stocks are trading lower on Friday as investors digested more economic data out of the U.S. and more hawkish commentary from the Federal Reserve.
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe reiterated warnings of inflation risks and hinted at further hikes ahead.
Wall Street ended sharply lower on Thursday after unexpectedly strong inflation data and a drop in weekly jobless claims added to fears that the US Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates to tame high prices.
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