Indices bounce back; broader market underperforms

Indices reversed losses in morning trade as buying emerged at lower levels. The Nifty crossed the 17,000 mark. Concerns of a new COVID variant continued to weigh on the sentiment. IT and metal stocks bucked the broader market weakness.

At 10:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 16.65 points or 0.03% at 57,123.79. The Nifty 50 index lost 6.8 points at 17,019.75.

The broader market underperformed the main indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 1.06% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 1.89%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 856 shares rose and 2,275 shares fell. A total of 160 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 5,785.83 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,294.11 crore in the Indian equity market on 26 November, provisional data showed.

COVID-19 Update:

On 26 November 2021, World Health Organization designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron. WHO said that it is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible (e.g., more easily spread from person to person) compared to other variants, including Delta. The number of people testing positive has risen in areas of South Africa affected by this variant, but epidemiologic studies are underway to understand if it is because of Omicron or other factors.

Commenting on the severity of the new variant, WHO said that it is not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta. However, preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron.

Meanwhile, India reported 236 fatalities in the last 24 hours. According to the Union Health Ministry, the number of active cases in the country have declined to 1,03,859.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index jumped 1.01% to 5,377.65, outperforming the sectoral indices on the NSE. The index slumped 5.34% in previous trading session.

NALCO (up 2.67%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.42%), Steel Authority of India (up 1.88%), Tata Steel (up 1.79%), NMDC (up 0.88%) and JSW Steel (up 0.83%) were top gainers in metal space.

Stocks in Spotlight:

One 97 Communications (Paytm) was down 0.06%. The company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 473.50 crore in Q2 FY22, higher than net loss of Rs 436.70 crore in Q2 FY21. Net sales jumped 63.64% to Rs 1086.40 crore in Q2 FY22 over Q2 FY21. Revenue growth was driven by 52% growth in non-UPI payment volumes (GMV) and more than three times growth in financial services and other revenue. Revenue from payments and financial services grew 69% Y-o-Y to Rs 842.60 crore, while commerce and cloud services revenue grew by 47% Y-o-Y to Rs 243.8 crore. Pre-tax loss stood at Rs 471.50 crore in Q2 FY22, higher than pre-tax loss of Rs 428.30 crore in Q2 FY21.

Salasar Techno Engineering rallied 4.05% to Rs 272.20 after the company secured a purchase order of Rs 170 crore from Rites. As per the exchange filing, the project consists of the - "Railway Electrification of 25kV OHE works including TSS General Electrification, Civil Engineering works including Tower Wagon Shed, Service Buildings, Staff Quarters, Track works and Signalling and Telecommunication works on existing track of single line section of Udaipur city (Excl.) - Himmatnagar (Excl.) 210 RKM (234.99 TKM) section of Ajmer division of North Western Railway."

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