Sensex, Nifty at the low point of the day; European markets open in the green

The domestic equity benchmarks extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,900 mark after hitting the day's high of 18,004.35 in morning trade.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 204.46 points or 0.34% to 60,798.11. The Nifty 50 index lost 70.85 points or 0.39% to 17,873.35.

Adani Enterprises (down 5.15%), Britannia Industries (down 1.53%), BPCL (down 1.48%), Adani Ports (down 1.14%) and ONGC (down 1.09%) were the top Nifty losers.

Divi's Lab (up 2.52%), Ultratech Cement (up 1.92%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.63%), HDFC Life (up 1.27%) and SBI Life (up 0.82%) outperformed.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.12% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.11%

The market breadth was remained negative. On the BSE, 1,450 shares rose and 2,014 shares fell. A total of 183 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Hindustan Unilever rose 0.07%. The FMCG major has signed an agreement for the sale of its atta and salt business carried out under the brands 'Annapurna' and 'Captain Cook.' The brands were sold at Rs 60.4 crore to Uma Global Foods, and Uma Consumer Products, which are subsidiaries of Reactivate Brands International, a Singapore-headquartered company and an affiliate of CSAW Aqbator (Singapore).

Cipla tumbled 6.24%. The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) conducted a current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) inspection at the company's Pithampur manufacturing facility from 6th - 17th February 2023. On conclusion of the inspection, the company has received 8 inspectional observations in Form 483.

Samvardhana Motherson International advanced 3.52. The company announced the signing of an agreement by its subsidiary to acquire Germany-based SAS Autosystemtechnik for 4.4 billion euros.

Crisil gained 2.53%. On consolidated basis, Crisil's net profit fell 6.3% to Rs 158.02 crore in Q4 FY22 as compared with Rs 168.63 crore in Q4 FY21. Income from operations jumped 16.5% year on year to Rs 822.3 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2022.

Global Markets:

European stock markets opened with minor gains while Asian peers mostly traded with decent gains on Monday, with investors cautious at the start of a week that includes the release of important Eurozone activity data as well as the minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting.

Monday's U.S. holiday, to celebrate President's Day, is likely to limit trading volumes in Europe, but investors will also be wary of taking strong positions ahead of some important regional economic data.

The highlight of the week will be Tuesday's flash PMI data for February, which will show how well the Eurozone economy is performing after unexpectedly growing in the final quarter of 2022.

The bloc is also scheduled to release final inflation figures for January on Thursday, which will be in focus after delayed German data was omitted from the first estimate. ECB officials have repeatedly highlighted their fears about stubborn underlying inflation.

Elsewhere, China's central bank left its interest rates unchanged earlier Monday, tensions between Beijing and Washington remained fraught due to issues surrounding the alleged Chinese spy balloon and potential aid to Russia, while North Korea has reportedly fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday.

US stocks ended mixed on Friday. Traders were concerned that the Federal Reserve could lift rates by more than expected amid recent data pointing to a stronger economy and sticky inflation.

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