Benchmarks trade near day's low

Key equity market benchmarks traded near the day's low in mid-afternoon trade. Trading activity remained thin amid the holiday season in major global markets. At 14:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 157.14 points or 0.38% at 41,400.86. The Nifty 50 index was down 45.30 points or 0.37% at 12,210.55.

The broader market fared better than benchmarks due to reasonable valuation compared with heavyweights. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.09% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.40%.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. On the BSE, 1300 shares rose and 1145 shares fell. A total of 184 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 18 stocks advanced while 32 stocks declined.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will address the media at 15:00 IST today, 31 December 2019.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Alkem Laboratories rose 1.69% to Rs 2023.05. The company informed that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with AbbVie Inc, USA, for the acquisition of certain assets.

NTPC rose 2.06% to Rs 119.10 after it said 800 MW unit of its Darlipali Super Thermal Power Project in Odisha has become operational. With this, the total installed capacity of NTPC and NTPC group has become 49,695 MW and 58,156 MW respectively, the company said in a exchange filing.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.550% at 14:18 IST compared with 6.544% in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 71.2825, compared with its previous closing low of 71.3150.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2020 settlement was down 22 cents at $66.45 a barrel. The contract fell 20 cents or 0.29% to settle at $66.67 a barrel during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2019 settlement rose 0.60% to Rs 39,206.

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