Key equity benchmarks extended recovery in early afternoon trade. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 215.57 points or 0.61% at 35,254.58. The Nifty 50 index was down 55.70 points or 0.52% at 10,607.80. The undertone of the market was still weak amid negative cues from other Asian shares. The Nifty regained 10,600 mark after slipping below that level in morning trade.
Indices opened lower and extended losses in morning trade. Indices trimmed losses in early afternoon trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.77%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.86%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 692 shares rose and 1550 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.
Most cement shares advanced. Ambuja Cements (up 0.77%), UltraTech Cement (up 0.61%) and ACC (up 0.02%), edged higher.
Grasim Industries was down 0.46%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Most telecom shares declined. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1.74%), Vodafone Idea (down 1.47%), Reliance Communications (down 0.5%) and MTNL (down 0.22%), edged lower.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel was up 0.58%.
Overseas, Asian shares declined. Japanese stocks were trading with small gains, following a Christmas Day plunge of both the Nikkei 225 and Topix. US stock indices booked their worst trading session on the eve of Christmas in history in a holiday-shortened session, putting the S&P 500 on the brink of the 20% decline from a recent peak that is commonly considered a bear market.
A fresh source of anxiety was a tweet from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that he had spoken with the CEOs of the country's six biggest banks to assess the health of the banking system. That raised some questions about liquidity among those institutions, a concern that previously had not existed. Treasury officials reportedly insist that the calls to bank executives was just a routine checkup.
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