Benchmarks lose momentum, Nifty slides below 22,500 level

The headline equity indices erased all gains and traded with modest losses in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,500 level after hitting the day's high of 22,676.75 in the morning trade. Oil and gas shares declined after advancing in the past four consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 168.02 points or 0.23% to 74,164.56. The Nifty 50 index lost 77.70 points or 0.34%, to 22,474.80.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.39% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.97%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,242 shares rose and 2,778 shares fell. A total of 161 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's forex reserves dropped by $1.781 billion to $638.698 billion in the week ended February 28, the RBI said on Friday.

Foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by $493 million to $543.35 billion.

Gold reserves decreased by $1.304 billion to $73.272 billion during the week, the RBI said. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by $27 million to $17.998 billion, the apex bank said.

India's reserve position with the IMF fell by $12 million to $4.078 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell 1.63% to 9,937.15. The index jumped 6.18% in past four consecutive trading sessions.

Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (down 3.39%), Indian Oil Corporation (down 2.36%), Indraprastha Gas (down 2.24%), Castrol India (down 1.99%), Petronet LNG (down 1.87%), GAIL (India) (down 1.79%), Oil India (down 1.78%), Gujarat State Petronet (down 1.77%), Gujarat Gas (down 1.43%) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 1.40%) declined.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper was up 1.95% to 6.810 as compared with previous close 6.680.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 87.3050, compared with its close of 87.9550 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 April 2025 settlement fell 0.13% to Rs 85,765.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.12% to 103.96.

The United States 10-year bond yield fell 1.64% to 4.247.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2025 settlement shed 03 cents, or 0.04% to $70.33 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Sterlite Technologies dropped 3.55% after the company informed that Tushar Shroff, chief financial officer (CFO) and key managerial personnel of the company, has tendered his resignation, effective from 31 March 2025.

B R Goyal Infrastructure shed 0.79%. The company announced that it had received a work order worth Rs 11.27 crore from Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation for the construction of a four-lane road.

Active Clothing Co hit an upper limit of 5% after the company announced its plan to raise funds via a preferential allotment of 5 lakh warrants.

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