Indices hit day's low; IT stocks in demand

The domestic equity benchmark extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. IT shares rose for the second day. The Nifty continued to trade below the 14,700 mark.

At 11:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 324.83 points or 0.65% to 49,533.41. The Nifty 50 index lost 72.65 points or 0.49% to 14,671.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.49% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.51%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1489 shares rose and 1225 shares fell. A total of 192 shares were unchanged.

On Saturday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell reportedly said that the economic situation in the US is much improved since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, but the recovery is "far from complete". The US central banker reiterated that the Fed will continue to provide aid to the US economy 'for as long as it takes.'

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 123,160,171 with 2,715,080 deaths. India reported 334,646 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 159,967 deaths while 11,151,468 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 0.51% to 25,692.90, advancing for second day. The index has added 1.26% in two sessions while the benchmark Nifty 50 index has gained 0.87% during the same period.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (up 2.14%), Info Edge India (up 1.43%), MindTree (up 1.19%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.14%), Wipro (up 0.88%), Infosys (up 0.23%) and TCS (up 0.21%) advanced.

Meanwhile, Coforge (down 0.63%), Mphasis (down 0.38%) and HCL Tech (down 0.16%) declined.

Majesco hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 66.55. Real estate developer Aurum Ventures acquired 42,31,679, or 14.78% in Majesco through a subsidiary, Aurum Platz IT, for total consideration of Rs 32,58,39,283. Aurum Platz IT will pay Rs 77 per share to buy the entire promoter shareholding in Majesco. As of 31 December 2020, the promoters held 14.78% stake in Majesco. As of 31 December 2020, public shareholding in Majesco stood at 85.22%.

Aurum Platz IT has also made a mandatory open offer to buy up to 74,43,720, or 26% stake in Majesco from the public at Rs 77 each, which is a premium of about 21.5% over its last traded price of Rs 63.45 on Friday.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were trading mixed on Monday as investors watched moves in the Turkish lira following a sudden upheaval at the country's central bank.

The Turkish lira slumped toward a record low versus the dollar after President Tayyip Erdogan stunned investors over the weekend by replacing the hawkish central bank governor with a critic of high interest rates, following a sharper-than-expected hike in interest rates.

Investor concerns about the possibility of higher interest rates are dominating equity and bond markets. Inflation expectations have climbed on an improving outlook for growth, which some suspect may force the Fed to tighten monetary policy sooner than its current guidance suggests.

China's one-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) and five-year LPR were left unchanged at 3.85% and 4.65%, respectively, on Monday.

U.S. stocks closed mostly lower Friday and booked losses for the week, with bank shares under pressure after the Federal Reserve said it would not extend temporary relief from capital-requirement rules for banks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 234.33 points, or 0.71%, to 32,627.97, the S&P 500 lost 2.36 points, or 0.06%, to 3,913.10 and the Nasdaq Composite added 99.07 points, or 0.76%, to 13,215.24

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