Nifty slips below 17,350; metal shares advance

The domestic equity barometers tumbled further in mid-morning trade, amid heavy selling in HDFC Bank and Infosys. The Nifty was trading below the 17,350 mark. Metal shares managed to outperform, as they advanced for the second day in a row, as higher aluminum prices and reopening of the Chinese markets supported the investor sentiment in the commodity space.

At 11:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 604.47 points or 1.03% to 58,040.35. The Nifty 50 index lost 186.80 points or 1.07% to 17,329.50.

HDFC Bank (down 2.25%), HDFC (down 1.94%), Infosys (down 1.61%) and ICICI Bank (down 1.58%) dragged the equity benchmarks lower.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.95% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.67%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,415 shares rose and 1,893 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

India added 83,876 new cases in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate stood at 7.25%. The country`s active caseload currently stood at 11,08,938.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 0.92% to 5,883.35, advancing for second day. The index has gained 2.11% in two sessions.

Ratnamani Metals Tubes (up 5.21%), Vedanta (up 3.38%), Hindustan Copper (up 2.72%), Tata Steel (up 2.18%), National Aluminum Co. (up 1.57%), Coal India (up 1.22%), Hindustan Zinc (up 1.17%), NMDC (up 1.08%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.05%) and Hindalco Industries (up 0.51%) advanced.

Welspun Corp (down 4.07%), SAIL (down 1.38%) and Adani Enterprises (down 1.18%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

One 97 Communications (Paytm) shed 0.20% to Rs 951.35. Paytm reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 778.50 crore in Q3 December 2021, higher than net loss of Rs 535.50 crore in Q3 December 2020. Consolidated net sales jumped 88.6% to Rs 1,456.10 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Rs 772 crore in Q3 December 2020. The growth was driven by increase in merchant payments processed through MDR bearing instruments (Paytm Wallet, Paytm bank account, other banks netbanking, debit and credit cards), disbursements of loans on platform and recovery of commerce business from COVID-19 impact.

InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) jumped 8.41% to Rs 2140.40 after the low-cost air carrier reported consolidated net profit of Rs 129.79 crore in Q3 December 2021, compared with net loss of Rs 620.14 crore in Q3 December 2020. Revenue from operations was at Rs 9294.8 crore for the quarter, an increase of 89.3% against a 50.3% increase in capacity compared to same period last year.

Lakshmi Machine Works gained 1.21% to Rs 10965.50. The company reported a 93.5% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 64.37 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 33.26 crore posted in Q3 FY21. Consolidated net sales grew by 90.5% to Rs 911.7 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 478.56 crore posted in the same quarter last year.

Dr Reddy`s Laboratories slipped 1.88% to Rs 4268.65. The company announced that the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted approval to the single-shot Sputnik Light vaccine for restricted use in emergency situation in India.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were trading mixed on Monday, with mainland China markets reopening following the Lunar New Year holidays last week. Stunningly strong US jobs data soothed concerns about the global economy but also added to the risk of an aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve.

Investors continued to monitor the situation around Ukraine, with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan reportedly warning Sunday that a Russian invasion could be imminent.

In US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite jumped Friday as continued strength in earnings reports extended the tech-led rebound from the January rout.

US employers added a burst of 467,000 jobs in January despite a wave of omicron inflections that sickened millions of workers, kept many consumers at home and left businesses from restaurants to manufacturers short-staffed. The Labor Department`s report on Friday also showed the unemployment rate ticked up from 3.9% to 4%. Estimated job growth for December was also revised much higher, from 199,000 to 510,000.

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