Sensex down 175 pts, Nifty holds 15,000

Key benchmark indices continued trading with modest losses in afternoon trade. Rising US Treasury yields spooked equity investors globally. The Nifty held above its crucial 15,000 mark. Banks and metal shares corrected. All the sectoral indices on the NSE were in the red.

At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 174.87 points or 0.34% at 50,671.21. The Nifty 50 index lost 65.45 points or 0.43% at 15,015.30.

ICICI Bank (down 1.30%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) (down 1.25%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.79%) were major drags.

Selling was broad based. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 1.21%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.66%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1,180 shares rose and 1,631 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 223.11 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were also net sellers to the tune of Rs 788.19 crore in the Indian equity market on 4 March 2021, provisional data showed.

Gainers & Losers:

GAIL (India) (up 2.80%), ONGC (up 2.62%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.18%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.57%) and BPCL (up 1.35%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.

IndusInd Bank (down 4.99%), UPL (down 3.89%), State Bank of India (SBI) (down 3.02%) and Tata Motors (down 2.89%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Wipro declined 3.67%. The IT major signed an agreement to acquire Capco, a global management and technology consultancy to banking and financial services industry, for $1.45 billion. London-headquartered Capco is a global management and technology consultancy providing digital, consulting and technology services to financial institutions in the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific. Its clients include many marquee names in the global financial services industry.

Tejas Networks rose 0.01%. The company on Friday announced that GigNet, a leading digital infrastructure company in Mexico, has selected the company's optical networking and broadband access products for their state-of-the-art, high-capacity fiber optic network expansion in the Cancun region of Mexico.

PNB Housing Finance gained 0.53%. PNB Housing and Yes Bank have entered into a strategic co‐lending agreement to offer convenient and customized retail loans to home buyers at competitive interest rates. PNB Housing and Yes Bank will jointly do due diligence and co‐originate the loan at an agreed ratio. PNB Housing Finance will service the customers through the entire loan lifecycle, including sourcing, documentation and collection with an appropriate information sharing arrangement with Yes Bank.

Global Markets:

US Dow Jones futures were down 134 points, indicating a weak opening in the US stocks on Friday.

Shares in Europe and Asia declined across the board on Friday amid rising bond yields.

The Chinese government has set its 2021 economic growth target at more than 6%, Premier Li Keqiang said in his annual work report on Friday at the opening of this year's meeting of parliament. China did not set a gross domestic product target last year due to uncertainties arising from the pandemic. The government has set its 2021 target for consumer price inflation at around 3% and its budget deficit goal of around 3.2% of GDP, Li said.

US stocks fell sharply on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell failed to reassure investors that the central bank would keep surging bond yields and inflation expectations in check.

On Thursday, Powell said the economic reopening could "create some upward pressure on prices." He said he expects the central bank to be "patient" in terms of acting on policy, even if the economy sees "transitory increases in inflation." Powell noted, however, that the recent rise in yields did catch his attention, as have improving economic conditions.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which has been keeping investors on edge in recent weeks, jumped to 1.54% after Powell's remarks. Last week, the benchmark 10-year soared to a high of 1.6% in a sudden move that sparked a big sell-off in stocks.

Meanwhile, OPEC and its allies agreed to extend most oil output cuts into April, offering small exemptions to Russia and Kazakhstan, after deciding that the demand recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was still fragile despite a recent oil price rally.

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