Market at day's low; Sensex down 168 pts; Nifty below 18,050

The key equity indices traded near the day's low with significant cuts in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 18,050 mark after hitting the day's high of 18,145.45 in mid-morning trade. Bank, financial services and oil & gas stocks edged higher, while media, FMCG and consumer durables shares were under pressure.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 168.15 points or 0.28% to 60,690.28. The Nifty 50 index declined 64 points or 0.35% to 18,043.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.55% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.42%.

 

The market breadth turned negative. On the BSE, 1,565 shares rose, and 1,891 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged.

Investor sentiment remained negative after the US reported lower-than-expected weekly unemployment claims, a sign of a robust labour market. This might result in the Fed maintaining its aggressive rate hike policy, increasing the likelihood that the world's largest economy would experience a recession.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.348 from its close of 7.313 recorded in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 81.13, compared with its close of 81.36 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 3 February 2023 settlement added 0.39% to Rs 56,764.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.03% to 102.09.

The United States 10-year bond yield gained 0.46% to 3.415.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2023 settlement rose 67 cents or 0.78% to $86.83 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index fell 1.40% to 1,887.60. The index declined 2.40% in two trading sessions.

Among the components of the Nifty Media index, Inox Leisure (down 3.55%), PVR (down 3.36%), Network 18 Media & Investments (down 1.37%), Sun TV Network (down 0.72%), Navneet Education (down 0.47%) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 0.13%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Jubilant FoodWorks (JFL) rose 0.33%. The QSR chain operator on Thursday announced that it has planned Rs 900 crore Capex which will be funded entirely through internal accruals over a period of 12-18 months.

Aether Industries advacned 2.90% after the specialty chemicals maker reported 37.94% surge in consolidated net profit to Rs 35.04 crore on 10.48% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 167.13 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

GPT Infraprojects zoomed 5.48% after the company announced that it has bagged an order valued at Rs 270 crore from Bridge & Roof Company (India), a Kolkata-based Government of India enterprise.

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