Market sharply pares losses; Nifty above 17,100

The key equity barometers sharply pared losses in mid afternoon trade. The Nifty regained the 17,100 mark after hitting the day's low of 16,843.80 in early trade.

At 14:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 296.06 points or 0.51% at 57,387.53. The Nifty 50 index lost 98.30 points or 0.57% to 17,108.35.

Escalating geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine weighed on the sentiment. There are concerns that rising tensions in Eastern Europe will boost crude oil prices and could spark global supply chain disruption, resulting in rising input costs. Thousands of U.S. and European companies do business with suppliers in Russia and Ukraine. Many of them could be at risk during a prolonged military conflict.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.87% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 1.48%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 540 shares rose and 2780 shares fell. A total of 88 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.749% as compared with 6.693% at close in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 74.94, compared with its close of 74.55 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2022 settlement rose 0.58% to Rs 50,366.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was trading flat at 96.08.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2022 settlement rose $5.43 or 5.81% to $98.97 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

ISGEC Heavy Engineering slipped 1.68% to Rs 529.75. The company said that it has commissioned its largest biomass boilers for a bio ethanol project in Thailand for GKBI through an EPC company, Sbang Corp, Thailand.

NHPC added 0.35% to Rs 28.85. The company said that the Sewa-ll Power Station (3 x 40 MW), Mashka (UT of J&K), has successfully restarted power generation from 21 February 2022. The power station under complete shutdown w.e.f. 25 September 2020 due to damage of head race tunnel (HRT).

Marksans Pharma declined 3.02% to Rs 48.15. The company announced that UK MHRA has granted market authorisation to the its wholly owned subsidiary Bell Sons & Co. (Druggists) for Bells Healthcare All in One Oral Solution. Therapeutic use of the product is for short term symptomatic relief of colds, chills and influenza including chesty coughs. This is the first generic approval by UK MHRA for the product.

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