The market witnessed intense selling pressure in mid-afternoon trade. IT, PSU banks and realty shares declined the most. Rising coronavirus cases across US, Europe and China weighed on investors' sentiment.

At 14:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 685.77 points or 1.38% to 48,898.39. The Nifty 50 index lost 224.50 points or 1.54% at 14,371.10.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.90%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index skid 1.44%.

Sellers outpaced buyers. On the BSE, 876 shares rose and 2081 shares fell. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 9,31,05,607 with 19,94,440 deaths. India reported 2,13,027 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,51,918 deaths while 1,01,62,738 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

The government said that over 545 lakh tonnes of Paddy have been procured during the ongoing Kharif Marketing Season. This is an increase of 26.48% against the last year corresponding purchase of around 431 lakh tonnes. Agriculture Ministry said, government continues to procure Kharif crops at its Minimum Support Price from farmers as per its existing MSP Schemes. The Ministry said, more than 73 lakh paddy farmers have been benefited from current Kharif Marketing Season Procurement Operations with MSP value of over one lakh three thousand crore rupees.

Numbers To Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee appreciated to 73.1325 compared with its previous closing of 73.0450.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 5.944% as compared to its previous close of 5.924%.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement slipped 0.03% to Rs 49,025.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, added 0.21% to 90.43.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2021 settlement lost 68 cents to $55.74 a barrel. The contract gained 0.64% or 36 cents to settle at $56.42 in the previous trading session.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index fell 2.02% to 26,420.90. The index has fallen 2.16% in two sessions.

Tech Mahindra (down 4.16%), Coforge (down 4.1%), MindTree (down 2.91%), Info Edge India (down 2.9%), Wipro (down 2.85%), Mphasis (down 2.54%), Larsen & Toubro Infotech (down 2.49%), Infosys (down 1.77%) and TCS (down 0.38%) tumbled.

HCL Technologies slipped 2.86% at Rs 998.40. The IT firm's consolidated net profit rose 31.1% to Rs 3,982 crore on 6.4% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 19,302 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019.

Sequentially, consolidated net profit rose 26.7% and revenue increased 3.80% in Q3 FY21 over Q2 FY21. EBITDA grew 9.9% to Rs 5,443 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q2 FY21. EBITDA margin improved to 28.2% in Q3 FY21 from 26.6% in Q2 FY21.

The company's revenue in constant currency grew 3.5% QoQ and rose 1.1% year-on-year (YoY). The company expects QoQ revenue to grow between 2% to 3% in constant currency for Q4 FY21, including DWS contribution. EBIT is expected to be between 21% and 21.5% for FY2021.

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