Barometers pared losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty reclaimed 14,400 level. Rising COVID-19 cases continue to weigh on investors' sentiment. At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 303.81 points or 0.63% at 48,240.49. The Nifty 50 index declined 74.95 points or 0.52% at 14,429.95.
The broader market saw selling pressure. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.65% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.51%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 890 shares rose and 1805 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
The annual rate of wholesale price inflation (WPI) stood at 7.39% (provisional) for the month of March 2021 over March 2020. However, month-on-month (March 2021 over February 2021) rate of inflation stood at 1.57%. The prices of crude oil, petroleum products and basic metal substantially increased in March 2021 as compared to the corresponding month of last year. Also, due to nationwide lockdown, the WPI index for the month of March 2020 (120.4) was computed with relatively low response rate.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 3.61% to 21.2. The Nifty 29 April 2021 futures were trading at 14,454.50, at a premium of 22.3 points as compared with the spot at 14,432.20.
The Nifty option chain for 29 April 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 25.2 lakh contracts at the 15,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 33.4 lakh contracts was seen at 14,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty PSU Bank slipped 1.96% to 2,037 on profit booking after 4.49% jump in the previous session.
Indian Overseas Bank (down 6.67%), Bank of Maharashtra (down 6.48%), Indian Bank (down 5.38%), Central Bank of India (down 4.14%), Bank of India (down 3.15%), Union Bank of India (down 2.71%) and Bank of Baroda (down 2.39%) were top losers in PSU Bank space.
Stocks in Spotlight:
L&T fell 0.85%. The heavy engineering arm of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) won significant contracts for its various business segments in Q4 of FY21. According to L&T's classification, the value of the said orders lie between Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore.
NMDC gained 1.34%. The PSU miner hiked prices of iron ore with effect from Wednesday, 14 April 2021. The prices of lump ore rose 18.80% to Rs 6,950 per ton and the prices of iron ore fines jumped 10.96% to Rs 5,060 per ton. The prices are effective as on 14 April 2021.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 138,056,297 with 2,971,539 deaths.
India reported 14,71,877 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 173,123 deaths while 124,29,564 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
India on Wednesday reported 2,00,739 new COVID-19 cases and 1,038 deaths in last 24 hours, according to data from the Union Health Ministry.
The total COVID19 vaccinations have crossed the 11.43 crore mark with more than 31.39 lakh vaccine doses were administered till 8 pm yesterday. A total of 69,974 COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs) were operational, marking a rise of an average of 24,000 operational Vaccination Centres ( 45,000 CVCs on an average are functional on any given day). Workplace vaccinations have also enabled a high turnout of beneficiaries.
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