Sensex drops about 800 pts; breadth turns weak

Key equity indices further extended losses and hit the day's low in mid-afternoon trade. Selling was wide spread with autos, metals and banks stocks losing the most. At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slumped 795.18 points or 1.69% at 46,165.28. The Nifty 50 index slipped 268.95 points or 1.95% at 13,491.

The selling was broad based. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index tumbled 3% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 2.95%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 713 shares rose and 2,230 shares fell. A total of 153 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 7,68,23,486 with 16,93,205 deaths. India reported 3,03,639 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,45,810 deaths while 96,06,111 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India

Farmer's Protest:

The government has asked farmers to choose a date for next round of talks. In a letter to farmer Unions, joint secretary in the Agriculture Ministry Vivek Agrawal urged them for a dialogue to resolve the issue. He said the centre is making all efforts to find an appropriate solution to resolve all the issues raised by the farmers with an open mind.

Agarwal said, government intends to convene the next meeting at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi for resolving the issue. He also mentioned that the government-held meetings with several other farmers' organisations and sought their suggestions on the matter.

The sixth-round talk between farmers and government was cancelled after farmers' leaders rejected the government's draft proposal to amend certain provisions of the farm laws and declined to participate in the meeting.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index slumped 3.21% to 3,113.35. The index has lost 4.84% in three trading sessions.

National Aluminium Company (down 5.61%), Hindalco Industries (down 4.44%), Vedanta (down 4.21%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.08%), Tata Steel (down 3.79%), Coal India (down 3.63%), NMDC (down 1.99%), JSW Steel (down 1.81%), Hindustan Zinc (down 1.47%) and Steel Authority of India (down 1.38%) tumbled.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged lower to 73.725 as compared to its previous closing of 73.5650.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 5.973% compared with its closing of 5.959% in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement rose 1% to Rs 50,806.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, added 0.56% to 90.457.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2020 settlement lost $1.71 to $50.55 a barrel. The contract gained 1.48% to settle at $ 52.26 in the previous trading session.

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