The key equity indices came off the day's low but traded with minor cuts in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered below the 17,750 mark. Metal shares declined for the fifth consecutive trading session. At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 230.7 points or 0.38% to 60,276.20. The Nifty 50 index lost 51.70 points or 0.29% to 17,712.90. The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.11% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.29%. The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1485 shares rose, and 1953 shares fell. A total of 140 shares were unchanged.

The RBI policy review meeting began on 6 February and concludes on 8 February 2023. The central bank is projected to raise the repo rate but at a slower pace. In its December monetary policy committee meeting, the RBI raised the policy repo rate by 35 basis points (bps) to 6.25%.

Numbers to track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.316 from its close of 7.32 recorded in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 81.70, compared with its close of 81.76 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 3 April 2023 settlement advanced 0.28% to Rs 57,116.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.05% to 103.57

The United States 10-year bond yield declined 0.15% to 3.627.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2023 settlement advanced $1.62 or 2% to $82.61 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index declined 0.75% to 5,729.20. The index dropped 11.43% in five trading sessionS.

Tata Steel (down 5.65%), Hindalco Industries (down 4.42%), Steel Authority of India (down 3.31%), Hindustan Zinc (down 2.05%), National Aluminium Company (down 1.93%), Coal India (down 1.05%), Vedanta (down 0.91%) and APL Apollo Tubes (down 0.79%) slipped.

On the other hand, Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.51%), JSW Steel (up 0.09%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Kalian jewelers declined 1.46%. On consolidated basis, the company's net profit rose 10.34% to Rs 148.44 crore on 13.06% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 3,884.09 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) declined 2.58% to Rs 75.65 after the company reported a net loss of Rs 279.79 crore in Q3 FY23 as against a net loss of Rs 302.30 crore in Q3 FY22. Revenue from operations fell by 1% to Rs 281.90 crore during the quarter

SJVN declined 3%. The power generation company's consolidated net profit rose 22.1% to Rs 287.42 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 235.46 crore recorded in Q3 FY22. Revenue from operations rose marginally to Rs 551.99 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2022 as against Rs 549.14 crore reported in Q3 FY22.