Benchmarks trade almost flat; media stocks in demand

The main indices were trading sideways with small losses in mid afternoon trade. The Nifty was hovering below 13,000 mark. At 14:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 34.19 points or 0.08% at 44,225.55. The Nifty 50 index traded 2.95 points or 0.02% lower at 12,984.15.

The broader market outperformed benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index surged 2.01% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.82%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1768 shares rose and 935 shares fell. A total of 195 shares were unchanged.

The National Statistics Office will release the July-September quarter gross domestic product data today, 27 November 2020.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 6,03,33,049 with 14,20,462 deaths. India reported 4,55,555 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 135,715 deaths while 87,18,517 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Top Gainers in Broader Market:

Indraprastha Gas (up 11.11%), L&T Finance Holdings (up 9.38%), Cummins India (up 7.85%), Amara Raja Batteries (up 6.62%) and Voltas (up 6.38%) were top gainers in BSE Mid Cap index.

Mahanagar Gas (up 13.66%), Subex (up 12.56%), Mirza International (up 11.7%), Clariant Chemicals (up 11.06%) and Amber Enterprises (up 10.4%) were top gainers in BSE Small Cap index.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index jumped 2.22% to 1,514.10. It was the biggest gainer among the sectoral indices on the NSE.

Zee Entertainment (up 4.77%), Sun TV Network (up 3.4%), Jagran Prakashan (up 2.04%), DB Corp (up 1.57%), Inox Leisure (up 1.47%) and TV 18 Broadcast (up 1.02%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Cadila Healthcare jumped 6.20% to Rs 448.55 after the media reported that the company is expected to introduce its Covid-19 vaccine by March next year. The drug maker will reportedly submit the results of its phase-2 trials next week, which will ascertain the safety, dose and efficacy of the potential vaccine. Subsequently, the company will apply for phase-3 trial which it plans to conduct on 39,000 participants in December. If all goes well, the company expects to introduce the vaccine by March next year, media reports added.

Great Eastern Shipping fell 0.5%. In a BSE filing made during market hours today, the company said that it had contracted to sell its 2000 built Suezmax Crude Carriers, Jag Lateef and Jag Laadki of about 147,080 deadweight tonnage (DWT) and about 150,284 DWT, respectively. "The vessels will be delivered to the new buyers in H2 FY 2020-21," it added

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee was unchanged at 73.88.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 5.893% compared with its closing of 5.872% in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 December 2020 settlement rose 0.01% to Rs 48,566.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.05% to 91.922.

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