Equity indices near day's low; IT stocks tumble

Equity indices traded near the day's low with small losses in mid-afternoon trade. Investors booked profits after recent steep gains. The Nifty took a support at 15,250 level. Selling was seen in IT, banking and FMCG stocks.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 196.77 points or 0.38% at 51,957.64. The Nifty 50 index slipped 43.05 points or 0.28% at 15,271.65.

The Sensex hit a record high of 52,516.76 and the Nifty hit an all time high of 15,431.75 in early trade.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.06% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.15%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1,225 shares rose and 1,694 shares fell. A total of 158 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee depreciated to 72.775, compared with its previous closing of 72.68.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.028% from its previous closing of 6.022%.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2021 settlement rose 0.33% to Rs 47,395.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, fell 0.23% to 90.260.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2021 settlement rose 78 cents to $63.21 a barrel.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 10,91,56,737 with 24,07,921 deaths. India reported 1,36,872 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,55,813 deaths while 1,06,33,025 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

India's exports grew by 6.16% to $27.45 billion in January 2021, according to data by the commerce ministry. Imports grew by 2% to about $42 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $14.54 billion during the month under review, the data showed.

Meanwhile, a foreign brokerage has reportedly upgraded its stance on India to 'overweight' is its Asia pacific (APAC) model portfolio. India, it believes, looks much better positioned cyclically and relative to the pandemic. Within Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), the brokerage is now biased towards second-phase COVID recovery marketsKorea, India, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong and away from the early recovery markets (China and Taiwan) and the late-recovery markets in Asean.

"As with India, earnings momentum is strong, and the credit cycle early. The currency is one of the regions' cheapest on a real effective exchange rate (REER) basis," the brokerage reportedly said.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index slipped 1.66% to 25,570, falling for the second session. The index has lost 2% in two days.

Info Edge (down 8.64%), Mindtree (down 1.74%), Infosys (down 1.46%), TCS (down 1.06%) and Larsen & Toubro Infotech (down 0.8%) were top losers in IT segment.

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