Markets fell sharply on Thursday after three days of rise as budget euphoria seems to be gradually waning off. The BSE Sensex ended at 58,788.02, down 770.31 points or 1.29%. The Nifty was at 17,560.20, down 219.80 points or 1.24%.
Hello and welcome to Mint. I am Nasrin Sultana. You are listening to Mint Evening Market wrap. Let’s take you through all the action in stock markets today.
Markets fell sharply on Thursday after three days of rising as budget euphoria seems to be gradually waning off. The BSE Sensex ended at 58,788.02, down 770.31 points or 1.29%. The Nifty was at 17,560.20, down 219.80 points or 1.24%.
Among sectors, Consumer Durables and Auto were top gainers while Realty, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and IT fell.
Only five stocks in the Sensex, ITC, Maruti, Titan, Asian Paint and State Bank of India ended in the green today. Among laggards were HDFC, Infosys, L&T, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance.
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State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC) embedded value has been finalised at more than 5 trillion rupees ($66.82 billion), according to a Reuters report. While there has been speculation about the number in various reports- from as low as $53 billion to as high as $150 billion – this is the first time the government, which owns 100% of LIC, is commenting on the matter.
Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail has sought two weeks from the Supreme Court to settle with lenders the issue of clearing dues and avoid being tagged a non-performing asset. Harish Salve, counsel representing the cash-strapped company, asked the top court if Future Group can be given two weeks to settle and discuss a plan with lenders which could potentially turn around the company since Amazon and Reliance Industries have already offered bailouts.
India’s services sector activity moderated further in January as new business rose at a noticeably slower rate amid the escalation of the pandemic, reintroduction of restrictions and inflationary pressures, a monthly survey said on Thursday. The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index fell to 51.5 in January, down from 55.5 in December, pointing to the slowest rate of expansion in the current six-month sequence of growth.
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Moving on to global markets. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Thursday amid some lingering concerns about global growth and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.06%, South Korea’s Kospi bucked the downward trend and rose 1.67%. A number of major markets, including those on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong, remain shut for the Lunar New Year holidays.
In other asset class news. Oil prices slipped during Asian hours as Brent crude futures declined 0.37% to $89.14 per barrel. A day earlier, OPEC and its non-OPEC allies agreed to green-light an increase in crude output to 400,000 barrels a day for March as oil prices trade near-record levels in part due to geopolitical tensions.
Thats all for now. Thanks for tuning in.
