Barometers turn rangebound; PSU bank shares fall for 2nd day

The key equity barometers continued to trade with significant cuts, in a narrow range, in mid-morning trade. The Nifty continued to hold above the 18,000 level. PSU bank stocks edged lower for second consecutive session. Trading could be volatile on account of monthly options expiry.

At 11:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 324.91 points or 0.53% to 60,585.37. The Nifty 50 index lost 101.70 points or 0.56% to 18,020.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.99% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.22%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1389 shares rose, and 1874 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index slipped 0.98% to 4,182.80. The index has lost 1.02% in two sessions.

Punjab & Sind Bank (down 4.3%), Indian Overseas Bank (down 3.11%), Punjab National Bank (down 2.64%), Bank of India (down 2.29%) and UCO Bank (down 2.07%) were the top losers.

Among the other losers were Canara Bank (down 1.58%), Union Bank of India (down 1.2%), Bank of Baroda (down 0.88%), Bank of Maharashtra (down 0.67%) and State Bank of India (down 0.17%).

Stocks in Spotlight:

JSW Energy rose 1.43%. The company announced it has completed the acquisition of Ind-Barath Energy (Utkal) for a resolution amount of Rs 1,047.60 crore.

NTPC fell 0.57%. The state-run power major said that it declared commercial operation of second part capacity of 50 megawatt (MW) out of 300 MW Nokhra Solar PV project at Bikaner, Rajasthan.

Vintage Coffee and Beverages rose 2.52% to Rs 55 after the company said it secured an order worth Rs 17.60 crore for supplying instant coffee to a leading brand in South East Asia.

Global Markets:

Markets in Asia declined across the board on Thursday, taking lead from Wall Street's overnight losses as investors looked to the year ahead.

US stocks ended weaker on Wednesday, as investors grappled with mixed economic data, rising COVID cases in China, and geopolitical tensions heading into 2023.

The U.S. government announced it will require airline passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau to show a negative Covid test starting January 5 regardless of nationality of vaccination status.

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