Benchmarks further pare losses

Domestic indices continued recovering from the day's low in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty headed towards 14,400 mark. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 140.98 points or 0.29% at 48,893.30. The Nifty 50 index lost 60.95 points or 0.42% at 14,372.20.

The broader market traded with losses. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.71% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index dropped 1.44%.

Sellers outpaced buyers. On the BSE, 930 shares rose and 2041 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 971.06 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 942.07 crore in the Indian equity market on 15 January 2021, provisional data showed.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 9,50,45,802 with 20,30,842 deaths. India reported 2,08,012 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,52,419 deaths while 1,02,11,342 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

Excise duty mop-up jumped 48% in the current fiscal on the back of a record increase in taxes on petrol and diesel, that more than made up for the below normal fuel sales. Excise duty collection during April-November 2020, was at Rs 1,96,342 crore, up from Rs 1,32,899 crore mop-up during the same period in 2019, according to data from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

Meanwhile, bank credit grew 3.2% to Rs 107.05 lakh crore in the first nine months of the current financial year, against a growth of 2.7% posted in the corresponding period of 2019-20. In the fortnight ended March 27, 2020, bank advances stood at Rs 103.72 lakh crore. Bank deposits rose 8.5 per cent to Rs 147.27 lakh crore in the April-December 2020 period as against an increase of 5.1 per cent a year ago, according to the recent data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index fell 1.45% to 10,030.40, extending its losing run to second trading session. The index is down 2% in two trading days.

Ashok Leyland (down 4.56%), Tata Motors (down 4.09%), Escorts (down 3.03%), Amara Raja Batteries (down 2.24%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 2.23%), Balkrishna Industries (down 2.19%), Motherson Sumi Systems (down 2.09%), TVS Motor Company (down 1.7%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 1.21%) were top losers in automobile space.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee depreciated to 73.2475 compared with its previous closing of 73.07.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.96% as compared to its previous close of 5.988%.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement rose 0.3% to Rs 48,850.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, added 0.11% to 90.852.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2021 settlement lost 45 cents to $54.65 a barrel. The contract fell 2.34% to settle at $55.10 in the previous trading session.

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