BAROMETERS TURN RANGE BOUND; NIFTY HOVERS NEAR 17,900

The key equity indices traded in a narrow range with major losses in the afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered near the 17,900 mark. Pharma and healthcare shares advanced while PSU bank, media and metal shares declined.

At 13:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 698.23 points or 1.15% to 60,127.99. The Nifty 50 index lost 224.55 points or 1.24% to 17,902.80.

The broader market underperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 2.41% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 3.11%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 456 shares rose and 3,064 shares fell. A total of 92 shares were unchanged.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (down 4.78%), Adani Enterprises (down 3.46%), Tata Steel (down 3.25%), Tata Motors (down 3.22%) and Hindalco Industries (down 3.18%) dragged the indices.

Divi`s Laboratories (up 1.59%), Titan Company (up 0.67%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.34%), Cipla (up 0.20%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.19%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Lupin rose 0.32%. The drug maker announced that it has voluntarily recalled four lots of Quinapril tablets due to the presence of a nitrosamine impurity observed in recent testing above the acceptable daily intake (ADI) level. Lupin said that till date, it has not received any reports of illness that appear related to this issue. Lupin however, discontinued the marketing of Quinapril tablets in September 2022.

Biocon added 1.13% after the company said that it has been issued a good manufacturing practice (GMP) certificate of compliance by the European Directorate for the quality of medicines & healthcare (EDQM), for its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility in Bangalore. This certification is based on a GMP inspection of the site that was conducted between the 12th and 14th of September 2022.

Indus Towers shed 0.94%. The company said that its board has appointed Prachur Sah as an additional director as well as managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of the company with effect from 3 January 2023, for a period of five years.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks slumped on Friday, taking the lead from losses on Wall Street while investors also looked ahead to some economic data in the region. Japan`s core consumer inflation hit a fresh 40-year high of 3.7% in November as companies continued to pass on rising costs to households, data showed on Friday.

US stocks closed lower on Thursday as investors worried that data showing a resilient economy would lead the US Federal Reserve to keep hiking interest rates for longer than feared.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News