Nifty tumbles below 14,700; breadth weak

Key equity indices slumped in mid-morning trade, led by weakness in banks shares. The Nifty slipped below the 14,700 mark. Auto shares snapped two-day rising streak. A spike in domestic and global bond yields coupled with rising coronavirus cases spoiled investors' appetite for risk assets.

At 11:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 1417.32 points or 2.78% to 49,621.99. The Nifty 50 index tumbled 404.95 points or 2.68% to 14,692.40.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 1.62% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 1.06%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 873 shares rose and 1756 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.

The government will release the GDP numbers for the October-December quarter of the current fiscal on Friday.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 188.08 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 746.57 crore in the Indian equity market on 25 February, provisional data showed.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 11,29,81,257 with 25,07,271 deaths. India reported 1,55,986 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,56,825 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index fell 1.95% to 10,293. The index had gained 1.92% in the past three sessions.

Tata Motors (down 3.57%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 3.41%), Ashok Leyland (down 3.28%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.57%), Bharat Forge (down 2.23%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.73%), Eicher Motors (down 1.40%), TVS Motor Company (down 0.82%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Rain Industries rallied 3.33% to Rs 172.05 after the company's consolidated net profit surged 164.7% to Rs 321.99 crore on 6.7% decrease in net sales at Rs 2,640.23 crore in Q4 December 2020 over Q4 December 2019. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 18.2% in Q4 FY21 as against 16% in Q4 FY20.

Aptech lost 1.63% to Rs 222.95. The company currently operates in two business segments - Retail and Institutional. As part of a larger re-organization of the business of the Company, the two segments of the company were evaluated during the meeting of the Strategy Committee constituted by the company. The company has decided to focus on the Retail business. Hence it is recommended that, the Institutional (B2B) business be evaluated for a potential exit as may be appropriate. It intends to complete the exercise within a period of 12 - 16 weeks.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were trading sharply lower on Friday following an overnight drop on Wall Street as a rapid rise in bond yields rattled investor sentiment.

Japan's industrial output rose for the first time in three months in January. Official data released on Friday showed factory output advanced 4.2% in January, boosted by sharp rises in production of electronic parts and general-purpose machinery, as well as a smaller increase in car output.

U.S. stocks dropped sharply Thursday as an outsized surge in bond yields spooked investors, who rushed to dump risk assets, especially high-flying technology names.

The major averages tumbled as the 10-year Treasury yield soared as high as 1.6% in a sudden move that some described as a "flash" spike. The yield later settled back down to around 1.52%, its highest level since February 2020.

The US economy grew at a 4.1% pace in the final three months of 2020, slightly faster than first estimated, ending a year in which the overall economy, ravaged by a global pandemic, shrank more than in any year in the past seven decades. The 4.1% gain in the gross domestic product the broadest measure of economic health is a slight upward revision from 4% growth in the first estimate released a month ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

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