Key market barometers further extended losses in mid-afternoon trade. Sentiment took a hit after Moody's cut 2021 GDP growth forecast to 5.8% from 6.7% earlier. IT stocks bucked weak market trend.
At 14:29 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 166.74 points or 0.40% at 41,091.00. The Nifty 50 index declined 60.50 points or 0.5% at 12,052.95.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.86% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.95%. Both these indices udnerperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth favored the sellers. On the BSE, 793 shares rose and 1663 shares fell. A total of 161 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 15 stocks advanced while 35 stocks declined.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty IT index rose 0.18% to 16,672.70, outperforming the other sectoral indices on NSE.
MindTree (up 1.99%), MphasiS (up 1.5%), TCS (up 1.47%), Infosys (up 0.54%), Wipro (up 0.23%), Persistent Systems (up 0.11%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.09%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.01%) advanced.
HCL Technologies (down 0.63%) and Hexaware Technologies (up 0.78%) declined.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 71.3775, compared with its close of 71.3750 during the previous trading session.
A weak rupee boosts revenues of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Drug major Lupin slipped 0.12% to Rs 717. Lupin in an exchange filing after market hours on Friday announced the launch of Moxifloxacin Ophthalmic Solution after receiving an approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Moxifloxacin Ophthalmic Solution which is a generic equivalent of Moxez of Novartis which is used for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis caused by susceptible strains of certain organisms. The company said that the product will be manufactured at Lupin's Pithampur (Unit-II) facility, India. According to IQVIA, Moxifloxacin Ophthalmic Solution had an annual sale of approximately $10 million in the U.S.
Further, in an exchange filing during market hours today, Lupin announced the successful completion of an inspection carried out by the USFDA at its Aurangabad facility. The inspection which was completed with zero observation was carried out between 10 February 2020 and 14 February 2020.
JSW Steel edged 0.76% lower at Rs 286.80. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday reportedly allowed JSW Steel to acquire of Bhushan Power & Steel (BPSL) for Rs 19,700 crore by providing it immunity from prosecution.
Intellect Design Arena slumped 7.43% to Rs 133.40. The company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 11.38 crore in Q3 December 2019 as against a net profit of Rs 13.38 crore in Q3 December 2018. Net sales declined 14.7% to Rs 319.49 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Pre-tax loss in the December quarter stood at Rs 7.84 crore as compared a pre-tax profit of Rs 15.50 crore in the same period last year. License revenue stood at Rs 49 crore (down 44.34%), AMC revenue was at Rs 63 crore (up 7.2% YoY) and SAAS revenue came in at Rs 33 crore (up 50% YoY) in quarter ended on 31 December 2019. Gross margin fell to Rs 149.22 crore in Q3 FY20, representing 46.6% of revenues, from Rs 183.23 crore in Q3 FY19 when it represented 48.5% of revenues. The company reported 91.48% fall in EBITDA to Rs 3.6 crore in Q3 December 2019 as compared to Rs 41.91 crore reported in Q3 December 2018.
Tata Motors rose 0.03% to Rs 169.15 after it informed about the board meeting scheduled on 24 February 2020 to discuss non-convertible debentures (NCD) issues aggregating Rs 500 crore.
Numbers to Track:
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.386% at 14:18 IST compared with 6.369% in the previous trading session.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2020 settlement was up 4 cents at $57.36 a barrel. The contract rose 98 cents or 1.73% to settle at $57.32 a barrel in the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2019 settlement fell 0.45% to Rs 40,795.
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