Bouncing back from two-day losing streak, domestic equity market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty settled flat to positive in Wednesday’s trade. S&P BSE Sensex ended 62 points or 0.18 per cent at 35,697, while the broader Nifty 50 index settled flat at 10,449. “Global impact of coronavirus which is still spreading at high rate in countries other than China and collapse of oil prices are having a catastrophic effect. Rate cuts and stimulus measures are not working at the time being. Even though risk concerns continue to remain elevated, inflow into domestic equity mutual fund surged to highest level in 11 months indicating investor confidence on a long term perspective,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said adding that rate sensitive stocks are likely to remain focused as consensus estimate show CPI inflation for the month of February eased to 6.8 per cent.

Hero MotoCorp top Sensex gainer- Hero MotoCorp was the top index gainer with a growth of 4.07 per cent, followed by RIL, ICICI Bank and LT. On the other hand, Tata Steel, top Sensex loser, slipped 7.69 per cent to Rs 297.50. IndusInd Bank, ONGC, SBI and Infosys were among other laggards on the Sensex.

Nifty PSU Bank index drag- The Nifty PSU Bank was the top sectoral loser, down 3.86 per cent weighed by Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Indian Bank. On the flip side, Nifty FMCG index edged higher driven by gains in Britannia, HUL, Marico and Dabur India.

Coronavirus cases in India jump to 60- Coronavirus cases in India are increasing as the total number of confirmed cases has jumped to 60. Out of these, 16 are Italian tourists while the remaining are Indians.

Yes Bank soars 420% from 52-week low- Yes Bank shares surged 419 per cent from its 52-week low of Rs 5.55 touched in intraday trade of Friday to close at Rs 28.80 a piece today. It has hit intraday’s low of Rs 23.35 today.

Coronavirus may impact Indian industries- Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Parliament that the shutdown of factories in China may impact pharmaceutical, electronics and automobile industries in India. “The closure of factories in China may affect Indian industries, which import components, intermediaries and raw materials from China like the pharmaceutical, electronics and automobile industries,” Piyush Goyal said.

IIP and CPI to release on Thursday- Factory output data for January and inflation data for February to be released on March 12, which would be keenly watched by the market participants.

Investors may continue buying- Citing the rising coronavirus cases, “We advise limiting leveraged positions and preferring hedged bets. Investors, on the other hand, may continue with buying in fundamentally sound counters in a staggered manner,” Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.

Technical observation- “After witnessing a sharp weakness on Monday, the Nifty shifted into a consolidation on Wednesday and closed the day on a slightly positive note. A reasonable positive candle was formed on Wednesday after opening lower. But, Nifty failed to sustain the intraday gains towards the end. This pattern indicate a temporary halt in the downside momentum,” Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Analyst, HDFC secuities said.