Sensex slides 266 pts; IT shares lag

The key equity benchmarks traded with modest losses in mid-morning trade as investors stayed cautious ahead of upcoming corporate earnings announcements. The Nifty traded below the 26,100 level. IT shares extended losses for the third consecutive trading session.

At 11:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 266.31 points or 0.31% to 85,142.39. The Nifty 50 index lost 76.30 points or 0.29% to 26,064.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.10%, while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index remained flat.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,810 shares rose and 2,059 shares fell. A total of 204 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index declined 0.78% to 38,669.10. The index dropped 2.07% in the past three trading sessions.

Coforge (down 2.28%), LTIMindtree (down 1.1%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.02%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.92%), HCL Technologies (down 0.79%), Mphasis (down 0.61%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.34%), Infosys (down 0.25%), and Wipro (down 0.01%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NMDC advanced 1.51% after the company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Colorado School of Mines, USA, to establish a framework for research collaboration in mining, mineral processing, metallurgy and AI/ML in mining.

NBCC (India) climbed 3.96% after the state-owned construction firm announced key developments spanning overseas real estate and domestic infrastructure projects.

Global Markets:

Asian markets traded mixed on Friday, with several exchanges in the region closed for the Boxing Day holiday.

Silver prices continued rising and hit another high after notching a record Wednesday. Spot silver rose more than 4% on Friday to reach an all-time high of $74.89 per ounce.

Silver has rallied over 159% year to date. Metal prices have soared this year amid shaky investor sentiment on riskier assets, as fears of an AI bubble and uncertainty over U.S. Fed rate cuts mount.

Meanwhile, core consumer prices in Tokyo rose 2.3% in December from a year earlier, according to government data Friday. The core CPI, which strips out volatile fresh food costs, remained above the Bank of Japan's 2% target, reinforcing the case for more interest rate hikes.

The latest reading was below the 2.8% increase in November. Tokyo's inflation numbers are widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

The Australia and Hong Kong markets were closed for the holiday.

U.S. equity futures ticked slightly higher in early Asian hours, after the S&P 500 closed at a new record for the second straight day on Wednesday stateside.

The broad market index advanced 0.32%, ending the session at 6,932.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 288.75 points, or 0.60%, and also posted a closing record of 48,731.16. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.22% and settled at 23,613.31.

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