The equity barometers were trading near the day's low in afternoon trade. The Nifty was hovering below 15,050 level. Rising COVID-19 case and negative global cues impacted domestic sentiment. PSU banks and auto shares corrected sharply.
At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 216.25 points or 0.42% at 51,108.44. The Nifty 50 index lost 74.30 points or 0.49% at 15,044.65.
Selling was broad based. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.85%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.11%.
Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1,400 shares rose and 1,444 shares fell. A total of 161 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 12 stocks advanced while 38 stocks declined.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 903.07 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,217.34 crore in the Indian equity market on 18 February 2021, provisional data showed.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 11,03,25,628 with 24,41,917 deaths. India reported 1,39,542 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,56,111 deaths while 1,06,67,741 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Economy:
S&P Global Ratings has said that India will be one of the fastest growing emerging market economies with a 10% growth in the next fiscal. S&P Director, Sovereign & International Public Finance Ratings, Andrew Wood said this while speaking in a webinar on India outlook for 2021.
He said the forecast for India in 2021 is on the stronger side and shows that a lot of economic activity, which was frozen last year, is coming back on line to normalisation.
S&P said India's economy has stabilised over recent months, with progressively better manufacturing, services, labour market, and revenue data. The hard part will be converting these trends into a sustained recovery over the next few years.
Gainers & Losers:
UPL (up 3.32%), GAIL (India) (up 2.69%), Hindustan Unilever (HUL) (up 1.74%), NTPC (up 1.64%) and IndusInd Bank (up 1.47%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.
Tata Motors (down 2.86%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.79%), Bajaj Auto (down 2.77%), Tata Steel (down 2.62%) and State Bank of India (SBI) (down 2.49%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Aurobindo Pharma fell 1.38%. The drug maker said that it received final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) to manufacture and market droxidopa capsules, 100 mg, 200 mg and 300 mg. Droxidopa capsules are generic version of Lundbeck NA's Northera capsules. The approved product has an estimated market size of $352 million for the twelve months ending December 2020, according to IQVIA.
Cadila Healthcare declined 2.46%. The drug maker has received final approval from the drug regulatory body, United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to market droxidopa capsules, 100 mg, 200 mg, and 300 mg (US RLD: Northera Capsules). Droxidopa capsules works by constricting (narrowing) the blood vessels and increasing blood pressure. It is used to treat low blood pressure that causes severe dizziness or a light-headed feeling. It is indicated for use in people with conditions of the nervous system that can cause low blood pressure (such as Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, autonomic failure, and others).
Unichem Laboratories rallied 4.38% after the company received United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approval for apremilast tablets, 10 mg, 20 mg and 30 mg. The drug is a generic version of Amgen's Otezla (apremilast) tablets, 10 mg, 20 mg, and 30 mg. The drug is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for phototherapy or systemic therapy.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia were mixed on Friday as investors monitor rising bond yields, corporate earnings and a batch of key economic data out of the euro zone.
In Europe, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a virtual meeting of leaders of the G-7 major economies on Friday, and is expected to outline an ambition to cut the time to develop new vaccines by two-thirds to 100 days. Meanwhile, Germany's regulator on Thursday declared that the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine was "highly effective" and said negative side-effects are short-lived.
In Asia, Japan's core consumer prices declined 0.6% in January as compared with a year earlier, according to data released Friday by the country's Statistics Bureau.
U.S. stocks slid on Thursday as investors were discouraged by a worse-than-expected jobless claims reading as well as a weak forecast from Walmart.
Walmart shares dropped sharply after its fourth-quarter earnings fell short of estimates. The big-box retailer sees sales growth slowing this year as the pandemic momentum ebbs.
Meanwhile, the latest jobless claims number signalled a setback in the labor market recovery. First-time filings for unemployment insurance totaled 861,000 last week, the highest level in a month, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
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