Indices near day's low; Mastek down 9%

The equity barometers were hovering near the day's low in mid-morning trade. The Nifty reclaimed 14,300 mark after slipping below that level. All the sectoral indices on the NSE were in the red. Metal, realty and pharma stocks witnessed steep selling pressure.

At 11:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 267.53 points or 0.55% at 48,767.20. The Nifty 50 index declined 99.75 points or 0.69% at 14,333.55.

The broader market tumbled. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index tumbled 1.77% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.78%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 706 shares rose and 2026 shares fell. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 971.06 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 942.07 crore in the Indian equity market on 15 January, provisional data showed.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 9,50,22,922 with 20,30,515 deaths. India reported 2,08,012 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,52,419 deaths while 1,02,11,342 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

India continued on its steady trajectory of reporting a sustained downfall in the daily new cases and consequential decline in the active cases. For the first time, India's share of active cases within the total positive cases has shrunk below 2% (1.98)%. In the last 24 hours, 15,144 daily cases have been recorded. The active caseload of the country has fallen to 2,08,826. The daily new cases have been below 20,000 for the past 10 days.

Economy:

Excise duty mop-up jumped 48% in the current fiscal on the back of a record increase in taxes on petrol and diesel, that more than made up for the below normal fuel sales. Excise duty collection during April-November 2020, was at Rs 1,96,342 crore, up from Rs 1,32,899 crore mop-up during the same period in 2019, according to data from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

Meanwhile, bank credit grew 3.2% to Rs 107.05 lakh crore in the first nine months of the current financial year, against a growth of 2.7% posted in the corresponding period of 2019-20. In the fortnight ended March 27, 2020, bank advances stood at Rs 103.72 lakh crore. Bank deposits rose 8.5 per cent to Rs 147.27 lakh crore in the April-December 2020 period as against an increase of 5.1 per cent a year ago, according to the recent data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index slipped 3.3% to 320.30. The index lost 5.4% in four trading sessions.

Sobha (down 6.26%), Prestige Estates Projects (down 4.61%), Phoenix Mills (down 4.35%), Godrej Properties (down 4.1%), Brigade Enterprises (down 4.04%), Sunteck Realty (down 3.85%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 2.73%), Oberoi Realty (down 2.57%), DLF (down 2.09%) and Mahindra Lifespace Developers (down 1.54%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Mastek slumped 9% after the IT company said its current group CEO John Owen, will be relinquishing his role on 18 January 2021 and will be pursuing opportunities outside the group. The company further added that Ashank Desai, the current MD will assume the responsibilities of the group CEO until a new Group CEO is appointed.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) fell 1.16%. The construction arm of L&T secured a 'large' order for its heavy civil infrastructure business from Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) for Package 4 of the New Broad-Gauge Line between Rishikesh and Karanprayag in Uttarakhand. As per L&T's classification, the valuation of the 'large' contract lies between Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.

JBM Auto jumped 4.81% after the company bagged an order to supply 700 BS-VI CNG buses to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

Global Markets:

Asian stocks declined on Monday as investors in the region reacted to Chinese economic data releases, including the country's GDP print for the fourth quarter.

China reported GDP rose 2.3% last year as the world struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Gross domestic product grew by 6.5% in the fourth quarter from a year ago, official data from National Bureau of Statistics showed. However, Chinese consumers remained reluctant to spend, as retail sales contracted 3.9% for the year. Retail sales for the fourth quarter rose 4.6% from a year ago.

Markets in the U.S. are closed on Monday for a holiday. US stocks fell on Friday as traders weighed President-elect Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus plan along with the latest earnings from some of the biggest U.S. banks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 177.26 points, or 0.6% lower, at 30,814.26. The S&P 500 dipped 0.7% to 3,768.25, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.9% to end the day at 12,998.50.

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