Sensex, Nifty erase gains; Midcap loses over 1%; ITC drags

1:45 Market Update:Equity benchmarks erased all morning gains on further profit booking.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 9.85 points at 28994.34 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 1.25 points to 8944.55.

About 1668 shares declined against 1059 advancing shares on the BSE.

1:35 pm Maruti sales: Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today said its compact SUV Vitara Brezza has crossed one lakh cumulative sales milestone in the domestic market.

The company had launched the vehicle in March 2016.

Vitara Brezza was designed and developed in India by MSI R&D team using Suzuki’s core technology and global vehicle development processes.

“Vitara Brezza has been a game changer for Maruti Suzuki.

Brezza is the first car in India to be certified for offset and side impact crash tests that will be enforced in country from October 2017 onwards.

1:25 pm Buzzing: Aluminium major Hindalco Industries and insurance firm ICICI Prudential shares rallied 3-4 percent intraday after a media report indicated that FTSE Russell will be adding these stocks in its large cap index.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance shares also touched a record high of Rs 371.50 intraday on this news.

The index provider FTSE Russell will also add UPL, LIC Housing Finance and Piramal Enterprises to its large cap index. These changes will be effective from March 20, 2017.

Piramal Enterprises, UPL and LIC Housing shares gained over 1 percent in early trade after this news, but erased all these gains later on.

However, the index provider decided to exclude GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare and Divi’s Laboratories from its large cap index.

1:15 pm Interview: Although US is a very important market for Cipla, its Global CEO Umang Vohra said US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies are unlikely to affect the company’s US business.

Vohra reasoned that almost 80 percent of the drugs sold by Cipla in the US market are manufactured in the US itself. He said it will not be a challenge to manufacture all its supplies in the US itself if asked to do so by authorities.

“We will increase manufacturing capabilities in the US if needed,” he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) is working hard to increase drug approvals in the US to ensure drugs come to the market much sooner, he said. He although admitted that a pricing pressure will continue in the US for sometime going ahead.

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1:00 pm Market Check

Benchmark indices were off day’s high while broader markets were under pressure on profit booking in afternoon trade. Investors awaited results of assembly elections due next week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 41.59 points at 29026.08 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 7.60 points at 8953.40 whereas the Nifty Midcap lost half a percent and Smallcap fell 1 percent.

The market breadth also turned negative as about 1619 shares declined against 1094 advancing shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

ITC shares dragged the market lower, down over 1 percent. Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and Dr Reddy’s Labs were down 1.5-2 percent.

ICICI Bank was also off day’s high, up 0.9 percent on profit booking.