Benchmark indices continued hovering near the day's low in early afternoon trade. The Nifty index slipped below 14,300 level. Barring the Nifty FMCG index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE declined. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 391.26 points or 0.80% at 48,643.41. The Nifty 50 index lost 136.40 points or 0.95% at 14,297.30.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.90% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.82%.

The market breadth was very weak. On the BSE, 698 shares rose and 2,081 shares fell. A total of 141 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 4.03% to 24.98. The Nifty 28 January 2021 futures were trading at 14,305.40, at a premium of 8.10 point compared with the spot at 14,297.30.

The Nifty option chain for 28 January 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 25.1 lakh contracts at the 15,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 30.7 lakh contracts was seen at 14,000 strike price.

Economy:

Excise duty mop-up jumped 48% in the current fiscal on the back of a record increase in taxes on petrol and diesel, that more than made up for the below normal fuel sales. Excise duty collection during April-November 2020, was at Rs 1,96,342 crore, up from Rs 1,32,899 crore mop-up during the same period in 2019, according to data from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

Meanwhile, bank credit grew 3.2% to Rs 107.05 lakh crore in the first nine months of the current financial year, against a growth of 2.7% posted in the corresponding period of 2019-20. In the fortnight ended March 27, 2020, bank advances stood at Rs 103.72 lakh crore. Bank deposits rose 8.5 per cent to Rs 147.27 lakh crore in the April-December 2020 period as against an increase of 5.1 per cent a year ago, according to the recent data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

Coronavirus Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 9,50,42,229 with 20,30,805 deaths. India reported 2,08,012 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,52,419 deaths while 1,02,11,342 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index lost 2.74% to 1,685.15. The index skid 4.20% in the past three days.

Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 6.39%), Inox Leisure (down 4.06%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) (down 3.73%), DishTV India (down 2.36%) and Sun TV Network (down 2.35%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

HDFC Bank gained 1.08% after the private lender reported 18.1% rise in net profit to Rs 8,758.29 crore on 4.1% increase in total income to Rs 37,522.92 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. Net interest income for the quarter ended 31 December 2020 grew by 15.1% to 16,317.6 crore from 14,172.9 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2019, driven by advances growth of 15.6%, and a core net interest margin for the quarter of 4.2%. The bank's focus on deposits helped in maintaining a healthy liquidity coverage ratio at 146%, well above the regulatory requirement.

On the asset quality side, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 8,825.56 crore as on 31 December 2020 as against Rs 11,304.60 crore as on 30 September 2020 and Rs 13,427.25 crore as on 31 December 2019. The bank's provisions and contingencies rose by 12.2% to Rs 3,414.13 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. The bank held floating provisions of Rs 1,451 crore and contingent provisions of Rs 8,656 crore as on 31 December 2020.

Pre-provision Operating Profit (PPOP) improved by 17.3% Rs 15,186.02 crore in the third quarter as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The total credit cost ratio was at 1.25% in the quarter ending 31 December 2020 as compared to 1.41% in the quarter ending 30 September 2020 and 1.29% in the quarter ending 31 December 2019.

GE T&D India advanced 2.20% after the company agreed to sell its Global Engineering Operations Division to GE India Industrial for a cash consideration of Rs 87.30 crore.

Allcargo Logistics slipped 0.90%. Suresh Kumar R was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) of the company with effect from 15 January 2021.

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