The market continued trading in a narrow range in mid-afternoon trade. The sentiment was affected by weak domestic economic data. Shares across the globe were under pressure as the death toll from the coronavirus in mainland China spiked 23% Wednesday amid new counting methods adopted by Chinese health officials.
At 13:28 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 174.19 points or 0.42% at 41,391.71. The Nifty 50 index was down 43.35 points or 0.36% at 12,157.85.
Selling was broad based. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.29% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.08%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 972 shares rose and 1323 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 20 stocks advanced while 30 stocks declined.
Numbers to Track:
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.450% at 14:23 IST compared with 6.473% in the previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee depreciated against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 71.435, compared with its previous closing low of 71.33.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2020 settlement was up 41 cents at $55.38 a barrel. The contract rose $1.78 or 3.29% to settle at $55.79 a barrel in the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2019 settlement rose 0.47% to Rs 40,675.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Pharma index rose 0.79% to 8,330.70, outperforming the other sectoral indices on the NSE.
IPCA Laboratories (up 3.25%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 2.99%), Divi's Laboratories (up 1.98%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 1.62%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.89%), Piramal Enterprises (up 0.5%), Strides Pharma Science (up 0.19%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.14%) and Lupin (up 0.14%) advanced.
Wockhardt (down 3.58%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 3.2%), Cadila Healthcare (down 1.23%), Alkem Laboratories (down 0.66%) and Cipla (down 0.6%) declined.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Sterling and Wilson Solar slumped 7.83% to Rs 276.45. The company reported 73.31% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 50.3 crore on a 34.52% fall in revenue from operations to Rs 1076.4 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Profit before tax or PBT stood at Rs 62.1 crore in Q3 FY20, down by 72.92% from Rs 229.4 crore in Q3 FY19.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) advanced 2.34% to Rs 37.20 after it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Joint Stock Company Rosoboronexporr, Russia to undertake joint projects and operations for defence systems.
NBCC (India) fell 1.86% to Rs 31.60 after consolidated net profit tanked 40.8% to Rs 49.54 crore in Q3 December 2019 (Q3 FY20) as against Rs 83.65 crore reported in Q3 December 2018 (Q3 FY19). Net sales fell 20.3% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 1,916.68 crore in Q3 FY20.
PNC Infratech advanced 1.43% to Rs 201.80. The company said it has been declared the L1 (lowest) bidder for a NHAI project of four laning 70 km long Unnao-Lalganj section of NH-232 A in Uttar Pradesh. The project is to be executed on Hybrid Annuity Mode for a bid project cost of Rs 1602 crore. The project is to be constructed in 30 months and operated for 15 years post construction. This is the tenth hybrid annuity highway project secured by the company so far. In a separate announcement on Wednesday, the company said it was declared the L1 (lowest) bidder for NHAI project of four laning 60.640 km-long Aligarh-Kanpur section of NH-91 in Uttar Pradesh. The project is to be executed on Hybrid Annuity Mode for a bid project cost of Rs 2052 crore.
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