Barometers hit day's low

Key equity barometers declined further and hit fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade. Shares across the globe were under pressure as geopolitical tensions flared after a U.S. air strike in Iraq killed a top Iranian commander. The Nifty descended towards 12,200 level.

At 14:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 190.12 points or 0.46% at 41,436.52. The Nifty 50 index was down 65 points or 0.53% at 12,217.20.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.48%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.09%.

The market breadth was even with 1209 shares on the advancing and the declining side on the BSE. A total of 187 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 11 stocks advanced while 39 stocks declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Info Edge (India) rose 1.58% to Rs 2571.95. The company has entered into an agreement to sell its stake in Applect Learning Systems (Meritnation) to Aakash Education Services. Taking into consideration the independent valuation report, the sale value of the investment is determined as about Rs 50 crore.

Shree Cement slips 0.86% to Rs 21039.85. CARE Ratings reaffirmed its rating on the company's various debt instruments. The credit rating agency reaffirmed its rating of 'CARE A1+' on the company's commercial paper worth Rs 600 crore and the short term bank facilities worth Rs 800 crore while the long term bank facilities worth Rs 1100 crore was reaffirmed at 'CARE AAA; Stable'.

Cords Cable Industries surged 13.03% to Rs 49. The company received approval from a Japanese engineering consultancy & contracting major for future supplies. This approval enables the company to participate in future bids for supplying qualified products to the said engineering consultancy & contracting major.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.496% at 14:14 IST compared with 6.502% in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 71.69, compared with its previous closing low of 71.3825.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2020 settlement was up $2.06 a barrel, or 3.11% at $68.31 per barrel. The contract rose 25 cents or 0.37% to settle at $66 a barrel on Thursday, 2 January 2020.

Brent crude futures jumped nearly $3 to hit a high of $69.16 a barrel, the highest since 17 September 2019. The crude futures spiked after a US air strike killed key Iranian and Iraqi military personnel, raising concerns that escalating Middle East tensions may disrupt oil supplies.

India is heavily dependent on oil imports for satisfying its domestic demand. A high crude price directly maps into a high trade deficit and in turn a high current account deficit (CAD). Higher crude prices also leads to a spike in domestic inflation.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2019 settlement advanced 1.62% to Rs 39,912.

Economy:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced its third round of simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities through special open market operations (OMOs) for Rs 10,000 crore each on 6 January 2020.

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