Sensex falls 406 points; Nifty opens below 15,000

Tracking rise in US Treasury yields and weak Asian markets, Indian benchmark indices open lower on Friday. At open, Sensex fell 406 points to 50,439; Nifty at 14,977 slips 102 points.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, IndusInd Bank & Bajaj Finance were top losers on Sensex. On the upside, ONGC gained 3.55%, NTPC, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra & Maruti were among the top gainers.

Sectorally, Nifty Bank was down 1.52%, Nifty Metal fell 1.33%. While Nifty IT & Nifty FMCG lost around 0.50% in opening trades.

The volatility index, India VIX zoomed 6.33% to 25.68 indicating the markets are more volatile. Overall market breadth remained strong as buyers outnumbered seller. On the NSE, 1,037 shares advanced compared to 646 shares declining, while 524 shares remained unchanged.

Stocks in spotlight

Heranba Industries will debut on exchanges today.

Wipro has signed an agreement to acquire Capco, a global management and technology consultancy providing digital, consulting and technology services to financial institutions in the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific. This acquisition will make Wipro one of the largest end-to-end global consulting, technology and transformation service providers to the banking and financial services industry.

NBCC (India) has executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) for redevelopment and monetization of 22.19 acres of Land Parcels at Maddilapalem, Visakhapatnam on February 26, 2021, on a self-sustainable model. The company shall be paid a Project Management Consultancy (PMC) fee of 7% of the estimated/approved project cost or actual project cost (whichever is lower).

Unichem Laboratories has received ANDA approval for its Guanfacine Tablets, USP 1 mg and 2 mg from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market a generic version of TENEX (Guanfacine) Tablets 1 mg and 2 mg of Promius Pharma LLC. Guanfacine Tablets are indicated in the management of hypertension. The product will be commercialized from Unichem’s Ghaziabad Plant.

RailTel Corporation of India has received an advance purchase order amounting to Rs 25.46 crore per annum (plus GST) from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) for commissioning of the Point-to-Point Links. The advance purchase order issued for the said work will be valid for a period of one year and further extendable by two years.

Hind Rectifiers has secured an order of Rs 72.02 crore (including an order of Rs. 38.67 crores from Chittaranjan Locomotive works) in the month of February 2021. The company has further secured an order of Rs 39.25 crore in the month of March 2021.

Bajaj Auto launched 115 cc bike Platina 110 in the country priced at Rs 65,920 (ex-showroom). The bike comes with ABS (anti-lock braking system) and other features like Nitrox spring-on-spring suspension as well as tubeless tyres. The new Platina 110 ABS offers unmatched safety by offering riders complete control over unforeseen braking scenarios.

Isgec Heavy Engineering has received yet another order for Waste Heat Recovery Boilers from the Cement industry and this time the capacity of the boilers will make them the largest in the world. The order has been received from Shree Cement, one of the largest cement manufacturing companies in India. These Boilers are to be set up at their Raipur unit and will be of 2 types, a PH Boiler to be installed at the pre-heater exhaust, and an AQC Boiler to be installed at the cooler exhaust from the 10500 TPD kiln.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks declined on Friday trade as investors watched bond yields as well as technology stocks in the region.

The Chinese government has set its 2021 economic growth target at more than 6%, Premier Li Keqiang said in his annual work report on Friday at the opening of this year’s meeting of parliament. China did not set a gross domestic product target last year due to uncertainties arising from the pandemic. The government has set its 2021 target for consumer price inflation at around 3% and its budget deficit goal of around 3.2% of GDP, Li said.

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell failed to reassure investors that the central bank would keep surging bond yields and inflation expectations in check.

On Thursday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economic reopening could “create some upward pressure on prices.” He said he expects the central bank to be “patient” in terms of acting on policy, even if the economy sees “transitory increases in inflation.” Powell noted, however, that the recent rise in yields did catch his attention, as have improving economic conditions.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which has been keeping investors on edge in recent weeks, jumped to 1.54% after Powell’s remarks. Last week, the benchmark 10-year soared to a high of 1.6% in a sudden move that sparked a big sell-off in stocks.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 745,000 for the week ended February 27, compared to 736,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, OPEC and its allies agreed to extend most oil output cuts into April, offering small exemptions to Russia and Kazakhstan, after deciding that the demand recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was still fragile despite a recent oil price rally.