Stocks cut losses in early afternoon trade after a steep intraday slide. At 12:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 236.90 points or 0.67% at 35,237.61. The Nifty 50 index was down 52.20 points or 0.49% at 10,604. Shares of index heavyweight Infosys dropped. Metal and mining stocks declined. Aviation stocks gained following steep fall in crude oil prices. Subdued Asian indices weighed adversely on the domestic bourses.
Domestic stocks began trading on a negative note on subdued Asian indices. A sudden sell-off in index pivotals dragged indices to intraday low in morning trade. Key benchmark indices traded near intraday low in mid-morning trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.44%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was off 0.05%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1078 shares rose and 1215 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.
Index heavyweight and software major Infosys lost 3.61% to Rs 617.95
Metal and mining stocks declined. Vedanta (down 1.8%), Tata Steel (down 1.61%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (down 0.96%), JSW Steel (down 0.29%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.39%), NMDC (down 1.31%) and Hindustan Copper (down 1.07%) edged lower. National Aluminium Company (up 0.69%), Hindustan Zinc (up 1.19%) and Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.2%) rose.
Aviation stocks gained following a steep fall in crude oil prices. SpiceJet (up 6.46%), Jet Airways (India) (up 5.13%) and Interglobe Aviation (up 2.44%) edged higher.
Crude prices tumbled overnight amid a selloff in global stock markets fed by growing concerns about slowing global growth. In the global commodities markets, Brent for January 2019 settlement was up 87 cents at $63.40 a barrel. The contract had fallen $4.26 a barrel or 6.38% to settle at $62.53 a barrel during the previous trading session.
Lower crude oil prices could benefit aviation firms as jet fuel prices, which typically constitute about 50% of airlines' operating costs, are directly linked to international crude oil prices. Jet fuel prices tend to fall with slide in oil prices.
Overseas, Asian stocks fell after another tumble on Wall Street, where concerns have spread to the corporate-bond market. US stocks closed sharply lower Tuesday, extending a pre-Thanksgiving rout that has been fueled mostly by a selling in shares of technology and internet-related companies. US financial markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday and see an early close Friday.
On the US data front, housing starts came in at a 1.228 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in October, while permits came in at a 1.263 million rate. Year-over-year, growth in housing starts has steadily slowed in 2018.
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