The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with minor losses in the mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 24,550 mark after hitting the day’s high of 24,677.80 in morning trade. Media shares extended losses for the third consecutive trading session.

At 14:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 280.64 points or 0.34% to 81,227.82. The Nifty 50 index lost 89.45 points or 0.36% to 24,529.55.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.01% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.04%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,844 shares rose and 2,081 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index fell 0.69% to 2,021.15. The index slipped 3.01% in three consecutive trading sessions.

Tips Music (down 3.13%), Nazara Technologies (down 2.32%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 1.45%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 1.15%), Saregama India (down 0.86%), Network 18 Media & Investments (down 0.77%), Sun TV Network (down 0.64%) declined.

On the other hand, Dish TV India (up 2.22%), Den Networks (up 0.42%) and PVR Inox (up 0.33%) edged higher.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 1.47% to 6.816 as compared with the previous close of 6.826.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 84.8550, compared with its close of 84.8600 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for the 5 December 2024 settlement rose 0.04% to Rs 76,514.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.11% to 106.26.

The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.33% to 4.214.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for the November 2024 settlement lost 18 cents or 0.25% to $71.96 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Indraprastha Gas (IGL) rose 0.64%. The company informed that its board approved the issuance of 1 bonus equity share for every 1 existing equity share held (1:1) to the eligible shareholders.

Pennar Industries advanced 1.42% after the company’s board will meet on 12 December 2024 to consider entering into a joint venture to expand the business.

Bajaj Finserv added 1.14% after its subsidiary, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, recorded a gross direct premium underwritten for November 2024 of Rs 1,364.67 crore, an increase of 11.95% year on year (YoY).