Sensex, Nifty erase gains; Zee Entertainment slumps

Key equity indices reversed trend and slipped into negative terrain in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 118.25 points or 0.33% at 36,076.85. The Nifty 50 index was down 60.80 points or 0.56% at 10,789.

Indices opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Indices trimmed gains in mid-morning trade. After hovering in a narrow range in early afternoon trade, indices reversed trend and slipped into negative terrain in mid-afternoon trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.98%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.93%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 811 shares rose and 1576 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises slumped 15.22% to Rs 368.05. On the BSE, 12.58 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 2.88 lakh shares in the past two weeks.

Dish TV India slumped 13.84% to Rs 28.95. Zee Media Corporation slumped 8.02% to Rs 22.35. Zee Learn slumped 10.80% to Rs 30.15.

Realty shares tumbled. DLF (down 6.68%), Unitech (down 4.47%), D B Realty (down 2.41%), Sobha (down 2.17%), Phoenix Mills (down 1.91%), Oberoi Realty (down 1.59%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 1.36%), Anant Raj (down 1.32%), Peninsula Land (down 1.09%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (down 0.67%), Omaxe (down 0.38%), Sunteck Realty (down 0.38%), Prestige Estates Projects (down 0.33%) and Parsvnath Developers (down 0.29%), edged lower. Godrej Properties (up 0.3%) and Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 1.09%), edged higher.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday, 25 January 2019, reportedly upheld the constitutional validity of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). A bench headed by Justice R.F. Nariman said they have upheld the constitutional validity "in its entirety". The court, however, said that related parties in the Act should mean a person connected with the business. The bench disposed of a batch of pleas filed by companies challenging various provisions of the IBC, media reports added.

Overseas, stocks in Europe and Asia gained Friday despite fresh overnight uncertainties about US-China trade negotiations. In Japan, core consumer prices in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide price trends, rose 1.1% in January from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided to maintain interest rates at 0% as expected on Thursday, but President Mario Draghi warned that growth risks in the region had shifted to the downside due to a number of external factors.

In US, stocks closed mostly higher Thursday as investors digested a tide of corporate earnings while monitoring US-China trade talks and a long-running US government shutdown -- all amid worries over the health of the global economy.

On the US data front, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell below 200,000 for the first time in nearly 50 years, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Further, the Conference Board's leading economic index fell 0.1% in December.

Private-sector activity continued to expand in January but at a more moderate pace compared with the same time last year, according to flash purchasing managers index data compiled by Markit. The manufacturing index rose to 54.9 from 53.8 in December, while the services gauge slipped to 54.2 from 54.4. A figure above 50 signifies growth in activity.

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