Indices hit day's low; breadth weak

Equity indices slipped into the negative terrain and hit the day's low in morning trade. The Nifty slipped below the crucial 14,900 mark. Barring the Nifty IT index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE were trading in the red.

At 10:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 139.66 points or 0.28% at 50,246.15. The Nifty 50 index fell 46.3 points or 0.31% at 14,864.20.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index tumbled 0.95% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.72%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 953 shares rose and 1500 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 120,656,989 with 2,670,056 deaths. India reported 234,406 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 159,044 deaths while 110,45,284 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared the proposal to set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI). Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the Union Budget that the government will set up DFI to fund long-term infrastructure projects in the country.

The government will initially infuse Rs 20,000 crore in the DFI, Sitharaman said while briefing the media on Cabinet decisions, adding that the government plans to raise up to Rs 3 lakh crore in the next five years. The government will provide tax exemptions and also amend the Indian Stamp Act to attract pension funds, sovereign funds to invest in DFI.

DFI will have a professional board. At least 50% of the members will be non-official directors. Persons of eminence are envisaged to be on the board. "We are making sure that Board will be such as to meet the requirements of 21st century," Sitharaman said.

The DFI will start with 100% ownership of Government of India, and gradually government's ownership will be brought down to 26%.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 1.08% to 26,649.50, extending its winning run to third consecutive trading session. The index has added 3% in three days.

Mphasis (up 2.15%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.3%), TCS (up 1.3%), Wipro (up 1.28%), Infosys (up 1.04%), HCL Tech (up 1.04%) and L&T Infotech (up 0.95%) were top gainers in IT segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

BEML advanced 1.59%. The company said it has received export orders from Cameroon and Bangladesh under Government of India-Lines of credit to supply construction equipment. Valuing at around $23 million, these equipment will be having more than 90% indigenous content and will be manufactured at BEML's KGF and Mysore plants in Karnataka.

H. G. Infra Engineering gained 2.25%. The company has been declared L-1 bidder for a road project by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), New Delhi. The scope of the project is construction of four lane access controlled new Greenfield Highway section of NH 365 of 33.6 km from Thallampadu village to Somavaram village. The bid project cost is Rs 656.45 crore with a completion period of 730 days.

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