Benchmarks hit day's low, Sensex slips 177 pts

The domestic equity benchmarks extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade. Oil & gas shares corrected after a recent rising streak. The Nifty hovered above 14,950 mark.

At 14:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 177.11 points or 0.35% to 49,725.53. The Nifty 50 index lost 75.05 points or 0.50% at 14,955.10.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.14% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.18%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1652 shares rose and 1340 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.

Investors assessed the minutes from the US Federal Reserve's meeting in April that flagged the possibility of a debate on scaling back asset purchases.

Buzzing Index:

The S&P BSE Oil & Gas index was down 1.16% to 15,755.59. The index rose 2.3% in the past four sessions.

GAIL (India) (down 3.24%), Petronet LNG (down 2.07%), ONGC (down 2%), HPCL (down 1.93%), Indraprastha Gas (down 1.88%) Indian Oil Corporation (down 1.77%) and Gujarat State Petronet (down 0.42%) declined.

Stock in Spotlight:

Tata Steel fell 4.96% to Rs 1106.60. Fitch Ratings has upgraded India's Tata Steel's (TSL) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'BB', from 'BB-'. The outlook is stable.

The upgrade follows a significant improvement in TSL's financial profile in the financial year ended March 2021 (FY21), driven by a jump in margins following a faster recovery in the global steel market from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic than expected. The agency expects TSL's leverage to remain stable over the next three years, it said.

HPL Electric & Power hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 51.45 after the company bagged two orders worth over Rs 372 Cr for its switchgear, wires and other related accessories for housing projects in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The current total order book of the company now stands over at Rs 700 crore.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee fell to 73.1350 compared with its previous closing of 73.18.

MCX Gold futures for 4 June 2021 settlement shed 0.49% to Rs 48,435.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.14% to 90.06.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 5.979% as compared to its previous close of 5.975%.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for July 2021 settlement fell 53 cents to $66.13 a barrel. The contract lost $2.05 or 2.98% to settle at $66.66 in the previous trading session.

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