| The frontline indices were trading with small losses in early trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,050 level. IT and PSU bank shares advanced while financial services, consumer durables and realty shares declined.
At 09:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 155.53 points or 0.27% to 57,769.75. The Nifty 50 index lost 62.60 points or 0.37% to 17,014.30.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.31% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.16%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,261 shares rose and 1,290 shares fell. A total of 104 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 995.01 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,668.85 crore in the Indian equity market on 23 March, provisional data showed.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Tata Steel fell 0.29%. Tata Steel has acquired the balance 1.35 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each, at a premium of Rs 2.81 per share, of Tata Steel Advanced Materials (TSAML), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the company, from Tata Steel Downstream Products (TSDPL), a direct wholly owned subsidiary of the company, for an amount aggregating to approximately Rs 17.33 crore. Consequent to the Transaction, TSAML has become a direct wholly owned subsidiary of the company.
Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 0.83%.. RIL's fuel and mobility joint venture, Jio-bp, and Piramal Group's real estate arm, Piramal Realty, announced their partnership to provide world-class EV charging solutions across all Piramal's residential projects in the MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region). Under this partnership, Jio-bp has installed the first set of EV charging points at Piramal Vaikunth in Thane.
Bharat Electronics (BEL) rose 0.53%. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed two contracts worth of Rs. 3800 crore with BEL for supply of Medium Power Radar and Digital Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) for Indian Air Force.
Numbers to track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 7.339 from 7.345 in previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.2425, compared with its close of 82.2050 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement declined 0.12% to Rs 59,492.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.10% to 102.64.
The United States 10-year bond yield lost 0.21% to 3.397.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2023 settlement shed 14 cents or 0.18% to $75.77 a barrel.
Global Markets:
Asian stocks are mostly trading lower on Friday, as investors weigh remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said federal emergency actions to back up failed regional banks could be used again if necessary.
Japan's core inflation reading fell from its January peak of 4.2% to 3.1% year-on-year in February, government data showed Friday. Overall, nationwide inflation was at 3.3% for the month compared to a year ago, also lower than the January print of 4.3%.
Wall Street closed higher on Thursday as market participants were reassured by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's reassurances that measures will be taken to keep Americans' deposits safe.
The Bank of England raised interest rates by a further quarter of a percentage point on Thursday and said it expects the surge in British inflation to cool faster than before. The BoE's nine rate-setters voted 7-2 in favour of a 25 basis-point increase in Bank Rate to 4.25%.
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