Coronavirus and Rate-path Worries Drag India Indexes Down Second Consecutive Day

Arjun Pandit
21 Dec, 2023
Mumbai

Stocks in Mumbai traded down for the second day in a row following weak global markets.

The Sensex and the Nifty indexes declined 0.4%, tracking Wall Street losses of 1.5% in overnight trading.

Market sentiment was cautious after the Union Health Ministry asked states to closely monitor the latest variant of the coronavirus.

India recorded 614 coronavirus infections in the 24 hours to Tuesday after the first case was registered in Kerala by someone who had recently returned from Singapore.

Kerala registered 300 new cases of coronavirus and 3 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to information available on the Union Health Ministry website.

Nationwide, 358 new coronavirus cases were registered as of 8:00 a.m. Thursday.

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka health officials are on high alert for low but rising cases of coronavirus.

The Singapore Health Ministry issued a travel advisory for citizens and visitors and brought back the mask mandate after coronavirus cases surged to 56,043 in the week ending on December 9 from 32,035 in the previous week.

New cases have stabilize in the last past week, after the seven-day average declined to 7,730 on December 17 from the 7,870 on December 12.

At least 40 countries are reporting new coronavirus cases involving subvariant JN.1, including the U.S. and China.

 

India Indexes and Yields

The Sensex index decreased 233.80 points to 70,272.51, and the Nifty index fell 41.05 points to 21,085.09.

On the Mumbai stock exchange, 33 stocks traded at their 52-week highs and 20 stocks traded at their 52-week lows.

The yield on the 10-year Indian government bonds held firm at 7.15%, and the Indian rupee hovered near ₹83.22 against the U.S. dollar.

The gold price increased by 0.07% to ₹62,457 per ten grams, and silver edged down by 0.1% to ₹75,399 per kilo.

Crude oil decreased by 0.1% to ₹6,168 per barrel, and natural gas fell by 1.1% to ₹195.60 per thermal unit.

 

India Stock Movers

Zee Entertainment Enterprises rose 4.5% to ₹263.30 after Sony India agreed to discuss a possible merger extension deadline with the company.

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders added 3.7% to ₹263.30 after the company won a ₹1,615 crore order to build six vessels from the defense ministry for coast guards.

Cochin Shipyard increased 2.9% to ₹1,266.85 after the company won a ₹488 crore contract from the defense ministry.

UltraTech Cement edged down 0.3% to ₹9,861.90 after the company agreed to acquire a 26% stake in Clean Max Terra.

Allcargo Logistics gained 3.7% to ₹282.60 after the company scheduled a 3-to-1 bonus to shareholders on record on January 2.