Sensex, Nifty decline further; Gold prices firm up

Key equity market barometers extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below its 100 days simple moving average placed at 11,956.77.

At 13:26 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 576.46 points or 1.40% at 40,593.66. The Nifty 50 index was down 167.10 points or 1.38% at 11,913.75.

Domestic shares declined on Monday, in line with global peers, as a spike in coronavirus cases beyond China renewed concerns surrounding the impact on global economy. Global sentiment took a beating following reports that South Korea put the country on high alert after the number of infections hit more than 700 and deaths rose to seven. In Italy, officials said the number of cases jumped to above 150 from just three last week.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.89% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.91%.

The market breadth favoured the sellers. On the BSE, 763 shares rose and 1643 shares fell. A total of 176 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 5 stocks advanced while 45 stocks declined.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index advanced 0.06% to 16,659.75, outperforming the other sectoral indices on the NSE.

Persistent Systems (up 1.09%), Infosys (up 0.87%), Wipro (up 0.73%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.64%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.28%), TCS (up 0.22%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.07%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

KEC International rose 1.52% to Rs 344.20 after it announced the acquisition of a power transmission tower manufacturing facility in Dubai. The company said that the acquisition is done through it is wholly owned subsidiary, KEC Towers LLC. The manufacturing facility, which was acquired at an auction sale conducted by Emirates Auction Authority, has an installed capacity of 50000 MT per annum.

Prince Pipes and Fittings lost 2.09% to Rs 177.90. The PVC pipe maker announced that CARE Ratings had revised the rating for the company's long term bank facilities worth a total of Rs 239.24 crore to CARE A- from CARE BBB+. The ratings agency has also revised its rating on the short term bank facilities worth Rs 252 crore from CARE A3+ to CARE A2+.

PNB Housing Finance fell 2.35% to Rs 407.15 after it informed that CRISIL downgraded its rating on the long-term debt instruments, bank facilities and fixed deposit programme of the company to 'CRISIL AA/FAA+' from 'CRISIL AA+/FAAA'. CRISIL has also revised the outlook on the long-term ratings to 'Stable' from 'Negative'. The rating on the commercial paper (CP) issue and the short-term non-convertible debentures has been reaffirmed at 'CRISIL A1+'.

Numbers to Track:

MCX Gold futures for 03 April 2020 settlement rose 2.08% to Rs 43,554.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee depreciated against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 71.8225, compared with its previous closing low of 71.64.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.343% at 14:22 IST compared with 6.422% in the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2020 settlement was down $1.92 at $56.58 a barrel. The contract fell 81 cents or 1.36% to settle at $58.50 a barrel in Friday's trading session.

A surge of infections outside mainland China triggered steep falls in European & Asian share markets and Wall Street stock futures as investors fled to safe havens such as gold, which hit a seven-year high on Monday.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News