Benchmarks turn volatile; metal stocks decline

The key equity indices turned volatile in morning trade. The Nifty hovered around the 17,250 mark. Metals, oil & gas, PSU banks and auto stocks declined.

At 10:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 74.75 points or 0.13% to 57,972.23. The Nifty 50 index added 12.10 points or 0.07% to 17,245.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.24% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.50%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2180 shares rose and 919 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on December 28 cleared the rules for tightening initial public offerings (IPOs). These rules will address gaps like conditions for the objective of IPOs, utilisation of proceeds from the share sales, price bands, anchor investors' lock-in period and the size of the stake a majority shareholder may sell on listing day.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index shed 0.43% to 5,514.80. The index had advanced 0.90% to end at 5,538.70 yesterday.

SAIL (down 1.10%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 0.84%), Welspun Corp (down 0.83%), Coal India (down 0.54%), JSW Steel (down 0.49%), Tata Steel (down 0.48%), National Aluminum Company (down 0.45%) and Hindalco Industries (down 0.39%) declined.

Meanwhile, Hindustan Copper (up 2.01%), Ratnamani Metals Tubes (up 0.70%) and Hindustan Zinc (up 0.54%) managed to buck the trend.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was down 0.01% to Rs 838.65. Mahindra Engineering and Chemical Products, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, has agreed to sell its entire stake aggregating 49% in Mahindra Tsubaki Conveyor Systems. M&M has also subscribed to 1,60,74,000 shares of ReNew Sunlight Energy, constituting 31.2% of the company. RSEPL has become an associate of M&M.

Vedanta slipped 1.51% to Rs 339.70. Vedanta Resources' Zambia copper unit, under provisional liquidation since May 2019, has been run down and is on the verge of collapse, CEO Sunil Duggal reportedly said. The unit known as Konkola Copper Mines requires $1.5 billion to make it a world-class asset, he reported added.

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