Market Wrap, Jan 30: Indices at 3-week closing low, Sensex tanks 285 pts

Indian equities reversed all the gains made yesterday and moved south as concerns over the spread of Coronavirus continued to affect investor sentiment on Thursday.  D-Street was a sea of red with bluechip stocks like Reliance Industries, SBI, Infosys, HDFC Bank, and ITC sliding up to 2 per cent. 

That apart, volatility was seen in the markets due to expiry of the January series of Futures and Options contracts, stock-specific developments on the back of the December quarter earnings, and in the run-up to the presentation of the Union Budget for 2020-21 on Saturday, Feb 1.

Markets hit three-week closing low today. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex settled 285 points, or 0.69 per cent, lower at 40,914 level. On the NSE, the Nifty50 managed to hold the 12,000-mark, and closed at 12,036 level, down 94 points or 0.77 per cent. 

As for broader markets, the mid and small-cap indices underperformed on the BSE today. The S&P BSE mid-cap index declined over 1 per cent to close at 15,556, while the S&P BSE small-cap index settled at 14,704, down 0.92 per cent.

Reliance Industries was the top drag on the indices, down 2.5 per cent, after global brokerage firm Macquarie downgraded the stock to 'underperform'. The brokerage firm noted that while there are several things to like about the oil-to-telecom behemoth, most of the bullish factors have been priced-in. Therefore, if an investor's mindset is 'growth at any price', one should stay long; but in its ‘growth at a reasonable price’ mindset it would book profit.

On the upside, Bajaj Auto was up 1.4 per cent after reporting an 8 per cent jump in net profit during Q3FY20 at Rs 1,322.44 crore. On a standalone basis, Bajaj Auto registered a 15 per cent YoY growth in net profit at Rs 1,262 crore while revenue increased 3 per cent to Rs 7,640 crore.

That apart, Tata Motors posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,738 crore but reported a standalone loss of Rs 1,040 crore. It said the performance was impacted primarily by lower volumes, and inventory correction.

Additionally, Indian Oil Corp reported a threefold rise in the December-quarter profit on Thursday. The net profit for the state-owned company was Rs 2,339 crore,  compared with Rs 717 crore a year earlier.

In the commodities segment, India and China, the world's two biggest gold consumers, accounted for an 80 per cent drop in global demand in the fourth quarter of calendar 2019 on the back of rising yellow metal prices and soft economic conditions, World Gold Council's latest report said Thursday.

While China’s Q4 jewellery demand was 10 per cent lower on a y-o-y basis, India recorded a 17 per cent y-o-y drop. Slowing economy, rising inflation, global trade disputes, higher gold prices and the younger generation’s shifting tastes towards lighter jewellery pieces contributed to subdued demand in 2019, the report said.

Here's how the global markets performed today:

Asian stocks and currencies tumbled further on Thursday, as the rising death toll from coronavirus led airlines to cut flights to and from China, and stores to close, increasing pressure on the world’s second-largest economy.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, and Japan's Nikkei index fell 2 per cent each. Further, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.3 per cent and Taiwan's benchmark index slumped nearly 6 per cent in its first session since the Lunar New Year break.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.8 per cent.