Sensex, Nifty trade sideways with losses

Key indices were range bound with modest losses in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 307.41 points or 0.67% at 45,796.70. The Nifty 50 index fell 103.75 points or 0.77% at 13,425.

Selling was broad based. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index lost 0.98% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.81%.

The market breadth continued to be weak. On the BSE, 1,044 shares rose and 1,787 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

The expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Wednesday sought additional safety and efficacy data from the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for their coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, after deliberating upon their applications seeking authorisation for the shots.

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 6,89,00,483 with 15,69,454 deaths. India reported 3,72,293 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,41,772 deaths while 92,53,306 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index declined 1.89% to 1,641.80. The index jumped 3.77% in the previous session.

Dish TV (down 7.95%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 4.5%), Jagran Prakashan (down 2.74%), TV Today Network (down 1.7%) and Zee Entertainment Enterprise (down 1.74%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Snowman Logistics was up 4.66% while SpiceJet declined 2.56%. Snowman on Thursday said it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Spicejet for jointly distributing COVID-19 vaccines across India and internationally. Snowman will handle the ground services such as transportation to/from manufacturers, warehouses, airports and consumption points, packing, storage & warehousing, in the required temperature zones, while SpiceJet will provide the air connectivity for temperature controlled distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines across India as well as internationally.

Subex rose 2.83% to Rs 30.9 after the company was selected by stc to deploy an integrated Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management (iRAFM) solution. Saudi Telecom Company (stc) is a Saudi Arabia-based digital company that offers telecommunications services, landline, mobile, Internet services, digital enterprise solutions, entertainment, fintech, and computer networks.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged lower to 73.715 as compared to its previous closing of 73.57.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.906% compared with its closing of 5.917% in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement lost 0.25% to Rs 49,137.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was flat at 91.085.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2020 settlement rose 34 cents to $49.20 a barrel. The contract rose 0.04% to end at $48.86 in the previous trading session.

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