Market trade with tiny cuts; metal shares slides

The domestic equity benchmarks traded near the flatline with some negative bias in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered below the 25,300 level. Metal stocks extend losses for the two consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 21.45 points or 0.03% to 82,538.39. The Nifty 50 index shed 6.65 points or 0.03% to 25,272.05.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.18% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.66%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,019 shares rose and 1,896 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index fell 0.46% to 9,264.80. The index declined 1.49% in the two consecutive trading sessions.

Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.66%), Jindal Stainless (down 1.42%), Steel Authority of India (down 1.01%), JSW Steel (down 0.86%), Hindalco Industries (down 0.69%), NMDC (down 0.56%), Tata Steel (down 0.45%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.31%), Hindustan Copper (down 0.25%) and APL Apollo Tubes (down 0.17%) edged higher.

On the other hand, Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (up 0.88%) ,Vedanta (up 0.25%) and National Aluminium Company (up 0.08%) advanced.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal advanced 1.70% to 6.993 as compared with previous close 6.995.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 83.9600, compared with its close of 83.9125 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 October 2024 settlement rose 0.17% to Rs 71,740.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.03% to 101.68.

The United States 10-year bond yield fell 0.16% to 3.903.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for November 2024 settlement lost 12 cent or 0.16% to $76.81 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Hindustan Composites rallied 5.02% after company informed that it has entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire a small stake in Swiggy by making an investment of Rs 5.175 crore.

Brigade Enterprises added 1.06% after the company informed that its board has approved the opening of qualified institutional placement (QIP) of equity shares with the floor price of Rs 1,164.70 per share.