Market slips into the red; Nifty below 17,300

The benchmark indices once again slipped into the negative terrain in mid-afternoon trade, dragged by oil & gas and pharma scrips. At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 80.97 points or 0.14% at 57,811.04. The Nifty 50 index lost 39.85 points or 0.23% at 17,264.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.70% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.62%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,183 shares rose and 2,142 shares fell. A total of 105 shares were unchanged.

National Hydrogen Mission:

The government on Thursday unveiled India`s new green hydrogen policy. The National Hydrogen Mission aims to aid the government in meeting its climate targets and making India a green hydrogen hub. This will help in meeting the target of production of 5 million tonnes of Green hydrogen by 2030 and the related development of renewable energy capacity. Hydrogen and Ammonia are envisaged to be the future fuels to replace fossil fuels. Production of these fuels by using power from renewable energy, termed as green hydrogen and green ammonia, is one of the major requirements towards environmentally sustainable energy security of the nation. Government of India is taking various measures to facilitate the transition from fossil fuel / fossil fuel-based feed stocks to green hydrogen / green ammonia.

The Ministry of Power has waived the power transmission charges for 25 years for Green Hydrogen/ Ammonia manufacturers, allowed them to buy renewable power from exchanges or their own unit and allowed these companies to bank unconsumed renewable power for up to 30 days with power distribution companies (Discom). These companies will be provided open access within 15 days of application.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.672% as compared with 6.674% at close in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 74.74, compared with its close of 75.0650 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2022 settlement fell 0.59% to Rs 50,093.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, fell 0.05% to 95.75.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2022 settlement fell 83 cents at $92.14 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell 0.92% to 7,570.60. The index added 2.96% in the last three trading sessions.

ONGC (down 2.79%), Indraprastha Gas (down 1.20%), Oil India (down 1.10%), Adani Total Gas (down 1.09%) and Castrol India (down 1.07%) were the top losers in the Oil & Gas segment.

Global Markets:

European markets advanced while Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday, with global sentiment hanging in the balance as the Ukraine-Russia crisis reaches a pivotal moment.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an urgent appeal against a Russian invasion, after Western leaders rubbished the Kremlin`s claims of a drawback of troops and Ukraine accused pro-Russian separatists of shelling a civilian village.

Russian-backed rebels and Kyiv`s forces reportedly traded accusations that each had fired across a ceasefire line on Thursday and U.S. president Joe Biden said his sense was that a Russian invasion "will happen in the next several days."

In the US, the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 248,000 for the week ended February 12.

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