Barometers hover near day`s low; Nifty holds 17,000 level

The benchmark indices continued trading with modest losses in mid-morning trade. Financial stocks dragged. The Nifty traded a tad below 17,050 mark.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 333.14 points or 0.58% at 57,029.06. The Nifty 50 index lost 103.05 points or 0.60% at 17,049.95.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.95%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.76%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, shares 1,028 rose and 2,279 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 1,507.37 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have net bought shares worth Rs 1,373.02 crore on 25 March 2022, as per provisional data on the NSE.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Financial Services index fell 1.19% to 16,418.85. The index shed 3.91% in four trading sessions.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (down 3.61%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (down 2.61%), HDFC Asset Management Company (down 2.55%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) (down 2.31%) and SBI Life Insurance Company (down 2.30%) were the top losers in the Financial Services segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Larsen & Toubro lost 0.59%. The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for acquisition of two multi-purpose vessels (MPVs) for Indian Navy at an overall cost of Rs 887 crore under �Buy-Indian� category. The MPVs will be the first of its kind platform, constructed to provide a cost-effective solution to meet a variety of requirements of Indian Navy.

These vessels, to be built by M/s L&T shipyard at Kattupally (Chennai), will perform multi-role support functions such as maritime surveillance& patrol, launching/ recovery of torpedoes and operation of various types of aerial, surface and underwater targets for Gunnery/ ASW firing exercises. These vessels would also be capable of towing ships and rendering humanitarian assistance & disaster relief (HADR) support with limited hospital ship capability.

Godrej Properties fell 0.50%. The company announced that it has entered into an agreement to develop a 33 acres land parcel in the residential micro-market of Bannerghatta Road in South Bengaluru. The project will have a developable potential of approximately 3.4 million square feet of saleable area with an estimated revenue of approximately Rs 2,000 crore. The agreement is for an outright purchase with 5% area share to the landowners.

Kalyan Jewellers India slipped 0.92%. On Monday, the company announced that the board has approved appointment of Vinod Rai as chairman and independent nonexecutive director of the company. Vinod Rai was the former chair of the United Nations Panel of External Auditors. Rai held various positions within the Indian government as well as in state governments. Vinod Rai`s appointment would make him the 8th non-executive director on the Board. Mr Rai has masters degrees both in Economics as well as public administration from Delhi School of Economics and the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, USA, respectively.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were mixed on Monday as coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai looked set to hit global activity, while throwing another wrench into supply chains that could add to inflationary pressures.

U.S. stock benchmarks closed mostly higher Friday, following choppy trade, after oil prices rebounded on the back of reports of a missile strike on a Saudi Aramco facility and as investors continued to weigh rising interest rates.

New York Fed President John Williams on Friday said he would support a half-point move if justified but indicated it was premature to make a call on the size of a future rate increase.

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