The domestic equity barometers ended with steep losses on Thursday. The Nifty settled below the 17,350 mark. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE. IT, auto and banks shares witnessed major selling.
The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 501.73 points or 0.84% to 58,909.35. The Nifty 50 index lost 129 points or 0.74% to 17,321.90.
Axis Bank (down 2.29%), TCS (down 1.91%), Infosys (down 1.64%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.92%) pulled the indices lower.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 0.19% to 12.97.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.13% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.22%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,581 shares rose and 1,876 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.
The National Stock Exchange on Wednesday said it has received approval from markets regulator Sebi to launch the rupee-denominated NYMEX WTI crude oil and natural gas futures contracts in its commodity derivatives segment. The launch date for these contracts will be announced soon, NSE said in a release.
Politics:
The counting of votes for Assembly elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya is underway.
As per the latest trends, the BJP alliance is set to retain power in Tripura and Nagaland.
In Meghalaya, no party is inching towards the majority mark. Chief Minister Conrad Sangma's National People's Party (NPP) have won 17 seats so far and is leading in eight others, emerging as the single largest party. The majority mark in Meghalaya, where the assembly has 60 seats, is 31.
Numbers to track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper advanced to 7.442 from 7.434 in previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.5800, compared with its close of 82.4900 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement declined 0.09% to Rs 55,782.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.28% to 104.77.
The United States 10-year bond yield jumped 0.95% to 4.034.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2023 settlement added 55 cents or 0.65% to $84.86 a barrel.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe declined while Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday, as investors braced for further hikes ahead as Federal Reserve speakers reiterated more hikes are needed to tame inflation.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Wednesday said the Fed will “continue doing what we're doing until we finish the jobs, and I'm committed to doing that.” The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield briefly topped 4% overnight.
In the US, all the major averages finished lower on Wednesday as bond yields rocketed higher.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led Wednesday's losses, falling 0.66%, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.47%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added just 5.14 points.
The rise in bond yields and concerns of a potentially larger-than-expected hike from the Federal Reserve have fueled investor concern in recent days.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Maruti Suzuki India declined 2.42% after the car major said its total production skid 5.79% to 1,59,873 units in February 2023 compared with 1,69,692 units in February 2022.
Eicher Motors fell 0.46% after the company's total motorcycles (Royal Enfield) sales increased 21% to 71,544 units in February 2023 from 59,160 units sold in February 2022.
Hero MotoCorp advanced 1.12% after the company sold 394,460 units of motorcycles and scooters in February 2023, recording 10% growth over the corresponding month of the previous year (February 2022), when the company had sold 358,254 units.
TVS Motor Company added 0.44%. The company said that it has registered sales of 276,150 units in the month of February 2023 as against 281,714 units in the month of February 2022, recording a de-growth of 2% on YoY basis.
Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) jumped 12.22% after the company along with its joint venture (JV) has been emerged as Lowest Bidder (L1) for Vande Bharat project. The total quantity is 200 Trainsets and cost per set is Rs 120 crore. Rail Vikas Nigam's share in the order is 25%.
Anant Raj surged 4.12% after the company announced that its board will meet on Saturday, 4 March 2023, to consider the fund raising proposal.
Sunteck Realty rose 0.43% after the Mumbai-based luxury real estate developer said it leased out approx. 2 lakh square feet of built-up area of its premium commercial building Sunteck BKC51 situated off Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) to Upgrad Education for a lease term of 29 years. The total revenue generated from the project will amount close to Rs 2,000 crore over the entire lease tenure. The project is at near completion stage and the possession is to be completed by June 2023.
KNR Constructions rose 2.11% after the company received letter of acceptance (LoA) for development of greenfield highway project in Andhra Pradesh. The bid cost of project is Rs 665 crore. The completion period of project is 24 months and operation period is 15 years from commercial operation date (COD).
IPO Update:
The initial public offer (IPO) of Divgi TorqTransfer Systems received bids for 14.48 lakh shares as against 38.41 lakh shares on offer, according to stock exchange data 17:00 IST on, Thursday (2 March 2023). The issue was subscribed 38%.
The issue opened for bidding on Wednesday (1 March 2023) and it will close on Friday (3 March 2023). The price band of the IPO is fixed at Rs 560-590 per share. An investor can bid for a minimum of 25 equity shares and in multiples thereof.
