Indices trade with significant losses; weak market breadth

The key equity benchmarks traded with significant losses in early trade amid across the board selling in index pivotals. The Nifty managed to hold above the 18,000 level. Barring pharma and healthcare stocks, widespread selling was witnessed at counters across sectors, with FMCG, financials and autos sliding the most. Trading could be volatile on account of monthly options expiry.

At 09:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 326.35 points or 0.54% to 60,583.93. The Nifty 50 index lost 91.15 points or 0.5% to 18,031.35.

Among the Nifty stocks, Hindalco (down 1.48%), Tata Motors (down 1.18%), Grasim (down 1.12%), HDFC Life (down 1.04%) and Ultratech Cement (down 0.98%) were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Dr Reddy`s Lab (up 1.32%), Divi`s Lab (up 0.86%), Sun Pharma (up 0.76%), ONGC (up 0.66%) and Cipla (up 0.49%) outperformed.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.62% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.37%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 976 shares rose, and 1475 shares fell. A total of 116 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tata Power lost 0.26%. Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL), a subsidiary of Tata Power has received the letter of award (LoA) from Tata Power Delhi Distribution (Tata Power -DDL), a joint venture of Tata Power and the Govt. of NCT of Delhi, for setting up a 255 MW hybrid (wind and solar) power project in Karnataka. The project will be commissioned within 24 months from the PPA execution date.

Tata Steel shed 0.09%. The steel maker has acquired 1.15 crore equity shares at an issue price of Rs 12.81 per share of Tata Steel Advanced Materials (TSAML), for an amount aggregating to approximately Rs 14.80 crore. On completion of the acquisition, TSAML will continue to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

Godrej Properties fell 1.18%. The real estate developer announced that it has acquired approximately 9 acres of land in Gurugram, Haryana through an outright purchase. This project will offer approximately 1.6 million square feet of premium residential development with exceptional lifestyle amenities.

Global Markets:

Markets in Asia declined across the board on Thursday, taking lead from Wall Street`s overnight losses as investors looked to the year ahead.

US stocks ended weaker on Wednesday, as investors grappled with mixed economic data, rising COVID cases in China, and geopolitical tensions heading into 2023.

The U.S. government announced it will require airline passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau to show a negative Covid test starting January 5 regardless of nationality of vaccination status.

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