Market Live: Sensex remains under pressure amid consolidation; Midcap outperforms

1:15 pm Europe update: European bourses moved lower as investors prepared for news out of the UK while keeping a close eye on the oil market for any sharp price moves.

France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX and Britain’s FTSE were down 0.3-1.2 percent.

12:55 pm Pharma agreement: Drug maker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said it has entered into an agreement with Boston‐based biopharmaceutical firm APC Therapeutics to in-license the latter’s novel immune-oncology molecule.

The financial details of the details were not disclosed.

However, under the terms of the agreement, Glenmark will in-license the product from APC Therapeutics, and manage all clinical development including regulatory filings and commercialisation worldwide.

Glenmark will have exclusive rights on the drug.

APC Therapeutics will receive development milestones and sales royalty payments.

12:45 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of GMR Infrastructure touched 52-week high of Rs 20.75, gains 3.7 percent intraday Wednesday as it is going to bid for airport in Jamaica and Serbia.

“Bengaluru-based diversified GMR group plans to bid for airport projects in Serbia and Jamaica as it seeks to expand its airports business to more overseas countries,” as per PTI report.

12.22 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to consolidate with a negative bias in afternoon trade Wednesday due to lack of global and domestic cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 53.49 points at 31,244.04 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 30.10 points to 9,623.40 but the broader markets outperformed despite balanced breadth.

The BSE Midcap index gained 0.2 percent and Smallcap was up 0.4 percent. About 1,190 shares advanced against 1,174 declining shares on the exchange.

11:50 am Buzzing: Shares of Alembic Pharmaceuticals surged 4.2 percent intraday as it has received USFDA nod for Candesartan Cilexetil Tablets.

The company has received approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Candesartan Cilexetil Tablets 32mg.

The approved equivalent to the reference listed drug product Atacand tablets, 32 mg of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP.

Candesartan Cilexetil tablets are indicated for treatment of hypertension in adult and children and treatment of heart failure.

11:32 am Aviation stocks rise: Shares of aviation companies took off on Wednesday as investors cheered the fall in crude prices.

Stocks in this sector usually gain due to a decline in crude oil prices as profitability prospects improve for such companies due to reduced input costs.

Jet Airways, SpiceJet and InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of IndiGo, gained between 2 and 4 percent intraday on the back of this development.

Oil prices held around multi-month lows in early Asian trading on Wednesday as investors discounted evidence of strong compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers with a deal to cut global output.

11:15 am Market Check: Benchmark indices extended their losses from the morning session, with the Nifty threatening to breach 9600-mark.

The Sensex was down 79.61 points at 31217.92, while the Nifty was down 38.70 points at 9614.80. The market breadth as negative as 1,077 shares advanced against a decline of 1,084 shares, while 146 shares were unchanged.

ONGC and Cipla were the top losers on both indices, while Larsen & Toubro, Reliance and Bank of Baroda gained the most.

10:40 am CLSA on TCS: CLSA has maintained its buy rating on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) but lowered earnings estimates for FY18-20 due to likely rupee strength and wage hikes.

TCS reiterated its 26-28 percent EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin targets on a constant currency basis. However, acknowledging a sharper Q1 headwind from forex, wage hikes and visa makes it harder, the research house said and cut margin estimate by 50bps to 25.5 percent from forex weakness. It also lowered FY18 marging estimate by 100bps (8.1 percent).

It took FY18 USD-INR assumption to spot, keeping FY19/20 at 68 against the US dollar. This drives 8/1/1 percent cuts to FY18-20 earnings, it said.

Meanwhile, the brokerage house believes TCS should be the prime beneficiary of a BFS (banking, financial, services) spend recovery and digital implementation shift and outpace peers in FY18 organic growth and capital returns.

10.11 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to reel under selling pressure, with the Nifty struggling below 9650 level on correction in banking & financials, auto and metal stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 57.71 points at 31,239.82 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 30.15 points to 9,623.35.

L&T gained over a percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that the government sold its stake in the company for Rs 4,000 crore.

Reliance Industries continued to support the market, up 0.64 percent while HDFC, Tata Motors, ONGC, Lupin, TCS, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were under pressure.

9:54 am IPO: The initial public offer of Eris Lifesciences was oversubscribed 3.29 times on the last day.

The IPO, looking to raise Rs 1,741 crore, received bids for 5,25,02,424 shares against the total issue size of 1,59,48,750 shares, data available with the NSE till 1930 hours showed.

The portion set aside for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was oversubscribed 4.68 times, non institutional investors 45 per cent and retail investors 3.50 times, sources said.

Eris Lifesciences is into manufacturing of branded pharmaceutical products in select therapeutic areas.

9:45 am Technical outlook: Way2Wealth Research reiterated its views that traders should stick to stock specific trading opportunity.

For the day, 9676 will continue to act as an immediate hurdle above which the next resistance comes near 9709. Lower side, 9637 / 9615 are the intraday support, it feels.

Overall markets are stuck in broad range of 9580-9700 levels and breakout from this range will further set the direction for broader indices in short to medium term. Below 9580 selling pressure is expected that may drag Nifty towards 9520-9480 levels whereas move above 9720 can take Nifty towards 9800 levels.

9:30 am Housing credit growth: Total housing credit growth moderated to 16 percent in the financial year 2016-17 due to lack of new project launches as investors deferred their home purchase decisions, according to rating agency ICRA.

In the financial year ending March 2016, the housing credit had grown by 19 percent.

Overall housing credit stood at Rs 14.4 trillion as on March 31, 2017 as against Rs 12.4 trillion in the previous year.

“The growth in the sector (in FY17) was impacted by a slowdown in new project launches with buyers and investors deferring their home purchase decisions in expectation of a decline in real estate prices,” Icra said in a report here today.

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9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks opened moderately lower on Wednesday, with the Nifty breaking 9650 level on weak Asian cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 45.77 points at 31,251.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 22.05 points to 9,631.45.

HDFC, Tata Motors, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and ONGC were under pressure while L&T, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints and HUL were gainers.

Amtek Auto and Castex Technologies and Metalyst Forgings rallied 6-13 percent after a media report indicated that 21 investors are in fray for Amtek Auto sale.

Berger Paints, Jet Airways, Monnet Ispat, Bhushan Steel, Jaypee Infra, Jaiprakash Associates and VST Tiller gained 1-4 percent.

The Indian rupee also declined in early trade. It has opened lower by 13 paise at 64.63 per dollar versus 64.50 Tuesday.
Asian bourses traded mostly lower following MSCI’s decision to add mainland Chinese stocks to its emerging markets index gradually and as oil prices slipped around 2 percent overnight. The Nikkei 225 declined 0.44 percent and the Kospi fell 0.6 percent.