Barometers turn red; oil & gas stocks rise for 4th day

The domestic equity barometers pared all gains and tured red in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 18,200 level. Oil & gas stocks extended gains for fourth consecutive session.

At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 72.23 points or 0.12% to 61,061.65. The Nifty 50 index lost 14.75 points or 0.08% to 18,176.25.

The broader market outperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.72% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.02%.

The market breadth strong. On the BSE, 2296 shares rose, and 1142 shares fell. A total of 151 shares were unchanged.

Global stock markets are rounding off a tumultuous and difficult year, as governments and central banks grappled with sky-high inflation arising from the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine, and persistent Covid-19 restrictions in China.

Investors remain wary of the prospect of persistently high inflation, monetary policy tightening from central banks and a potentially prolonged period of sluggish economic growth.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 7.333 from its close of 7.311 recorded in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.7500, compared with its close of 82.8700 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 3 February 2023 settlement lost 0.01% to Rs 54,967.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.17% 104.28.

The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.25% to 3.845.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2023 settlement rose 48 cents or 0.58% to $83.94 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 1.18% to 8,534. The index has advanced 6.39% in five sessions.

Indian Oil Corporation (up 2.81%), Gujarat State Petronet (up 2.45%), Indraprastha Gas (up 1.83%), Gujarat Gas (up 1.8%) and Oil & Natural Gas Corp (up 1.73%) were the top gainers.

Among the other gainers were Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 1.28%), Adani Total Gas (up 1.14%), Petronet LNG (up 1.1%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 0.9%) and Reliance Industries (up 0.66%).

Stocks in Spotlight:

HPL Electric & Power surged 6.10%. The company announced the receipt of an order worth Rs 161.59 crore for the supply of smart meters to serve a leading private DISCOM player.

Steel Strips Wheels (SSWL) advanced 2.26%. The company has announced the prepayment of a portion of its long-term debt amounting to Rs 81.26 crore.

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