The equity market barometers trimmed losses in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex fell 266.63 points or 0.65% at 40,789.06. The Nifty 50 index lost 95.25 points or 0.79% at 11,950.55.

Shares in Europe and Asia dropped on Tuesday as a revenue warning from iPhone maker Apple Inc sent shockwaves through the tech sector, highlighting the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global demand and supply.

In the wider market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.05%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.93%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, shares 688 rose and 1,717 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 14 stocks advanced while 36 stocks declined.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee depreciated against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 71.515, compared with its previous closing low of 71.32.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.386% at 14:22 IST compared with 6.387% in the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2020 settlement was down 57 cents at $56.75 a barrel. The contract rose 98 cents or 1.73% to settle at $57.32 a barrel in Friday's trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2019 settlement rose 0.7% to Rs 41,042.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index slipped 1.59% to 7,647.20, underperforming the benchmark Nifty index. The index has fallen 3.61% in four sessions. In the past one month, the index has declined 8.45%.

Tata Motors (down 5.77%), Ashok Leyland (down 2.15%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.74%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.5%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 0.94%) and Escorts (down 0.75%) declined.

Eicher Motors (up 1.09%), TVS Motor Company (up 0.33%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.07%) advanced.

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday rejected Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA)'s application to extend 31 March 2020 deadline for BS-IV vehicle sales.

Commenting on the order FADA President Ashish Kale said "Hearing FADA's plea, SC did not consider our appeal for extension of sale deadline for Stock vehicles and reconfirmed on their Oct'18 order of 31st Mar'20 as the deadline for sale and registration of BS-4 vehicles. Considering the long downturn which has lasted well over a year now and the current Dynamic demand situation, selling 100% of the BS-4 vehicles Currently in stock with our Members by 31st of March is a tough task.

FADA hence appeals to all OEMs to shift completely to BS-6 vehicles for all wholesale despatches to dealers and stop further billing of BS-4 vehicles with immediate effect to dealers thereby helping liquidation of current BS-4 inventory for a smoother transition to BS-6."

Stocks in Spotlight:

As per media reports, the exclusivity of city gas distributors (CGDs) would come to an end in six months as the downstream regulator is planning to declare their network as 'common carrier', which would force them to reserve a part of their capacity for a third party.

The move would end the marketing monopoly of distributors such as Indraprastha Gas (down 0.36%), Mahanagar Gas (down 0.34%), Gujarat Gas (down 0.42%), Gail Gas and more city gas distributors in at least 30 licence areas.

Kesoram Industries rose 1.51% to Rs 43.70. The company's board approved a fund-raising plan of an amount aggregating up to Rs 1,200 crore, by way of debt, issue of equity shares, convertible securities or any other securities, by way of one or more kinds of issue, including, public issue, rights issue, preferential issue and qualified institutional placement. A committee of the board will decide on fund-raising details such as the security type, issue size, price, record date, allottees and timing of the issue.