Sensex, Nifty near day’s low; Asian shares tumble

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The domestic equity barometers traded in a narrow range near the day’s low in mid-morning trade. At 11:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 399.78 points or 0.84% to 47,010.15. The Nifty 50 index lost 110.05 points or 0.79% to 13,857.45.

The January 2021 F&O contracts will expire today, 28 January 2021. Global cues were weak as a rise in the volatility index (VIX) worried investors. Rising coronavirus cases and uneven distribution of vaccine rollouts also triggered selling pressure.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the U.S. economy was a long way from full recovery and still short of policy makers’ inflation and job goals. The central banker made it clear that the U.S. central bank was nowhere near exiting massive support for the economy during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as officials left their benchmark interest rate unchanged near zero.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.07% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was trading flat.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1385 shares rose and 1153 shares fell. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 100,850,283 with 2,173,938 deaths. India reported 173,740 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 153,847 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

A total of 23,28,779 beneficiaries have so far been vaccinated for COVID-19 through 41,599 sessions held till the evening of January 27, the twelfth day of the immunisation drive, according to a provisional report of the Union Health Ministry.

Primary Market:

The initial public offer (IPO) of Stove Kraft received bids for 2.19 crore shares as against 58.94 lakh shares on offer on Thursday (28 January 2021), according to the stock exchange data at 11:15 IST.