Market Live: Indices trim gains from opening tick, Nifty flat; Hero Moto up 2%

10:22 am Rural demand? Tractor sales are set to touch a new peak of over 6.5 lakh units this fiscal year given the prospects of a normal monsoon, declining interest rates and farm loan waivers in some key states, says a report.

Sales had risen 18 per cent last fiscal year on good rains and despite note ban, after declining more than 10 percent in 2015 and 2016 when the monsoons played truant, Crisil said in a report on Wednesday.

10:12 am Market Check: Equity benchmark indices erased almost all of its gains, with the Nifty hovering around 10,100 mark.

The Sensex was up 15.24 points at 32590.41, while the Nifty was down 7.20 points at 10107.45. The market breadth was narrow as 1066 shares advanced against a decline of 849 shares, while 100 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp and NTPC continued to top the charts, while Larsen & Toubro, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Indiabulls Housing lost the most.

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9:50 am Buzzing Stock: JSW Steel declined over 2 percent intraday on Wednesday as investors turned cautious of the stock post the company’s Q1 performance.

The company’s profit in the first quarter fell by 43 percent to Rs 624 crore compared with Rs 1,096 crore in same quarter last year.

However, revenue during the quarter increased sharply by 24 percent to Rs 15,977 crore, with crude steel production up 1 percent at 3.91 million tonnes and saleable steel up 5 percent at 3.51 million tonnes.

The current quarter was marked by industry wide destocking as customers in general adopted a cautious approach towards carrying inventories in run up to GST rollout, which impacted domestic sales volume.

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9:37 am Market Check: Benchmark indices trimmed most of its gains from the opening tick, with the Sensex trading almost one-tenth of a percent higher, while the Nifty turned red.

The Sensex was up 30.72 points at 32605.89, while the Nifty was down 2.15 points at 10112.50. The market breadth began narrowing as 958 shares advanced against a decline of 549 shares, while 83 shares were unchanged.

NTPC and Hero MotoCorp were the top gainers, while ONGC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ACC lost the most.

9:30 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Hindustan Copper declined 7.6 percent in early trade on Wednesday as government plans to sell its stake in the company.

The government will sell 3,70,08,720 equity shares (4 percent) of the company through a two days offer-for-sale (OFS) which is beginning today, with an option to sell similar number of shares incase it gets oversubscribe.

The floor price for the said OFS is set at Rs 64.75.

The government currently holds 82.88 percent (76,68,19,811) stake in the company and the stake sale with green shoe option would help the government meet the minimum public shareholding norm of market regulator SEBI.

9:15 am Market Opens: Equity benchmarks began the session on a positive note on Wednesday, with the Nifty opening at a record high. Midcaps too opened on a strong note.

The 30-share Sensex was up 84.40 points at 32659.57, while the Nifty was up 11.25 points at 10125.90. The market breadth was positive as 522 shares advanced against ad decline of 225 shares, while 47 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp and Lupin were the top gainers on both indices, while ONGC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Ambuja Cements and ACC lost the most.

The Indian rupee on Wednesday opened at 64.12 to the dollar, up 0.1 percent from its previous close.

Dollar recovered mildly after hitting a 15-month low on a mix of political uncertainty and market expectations of further rate hikes from the Fed. The dollar index, which measures the dollar against a basket of rival currencies is subdued.

Globally, Asian stocks paused near decade-highs on Wednesday as investors waited to see if strong earnings results from tech bellwether Apple would ripple out to component makers in the region.

Shares in the world’s most valuable company surged 6 percent after hours to a record of more than USD 159, taking its market capitalisation above USD 829 billion. That should also help carry the Dow through the 22,000 mark when trading resumes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average racked up a fifth straight record high on Tuesday and neared the 22,000 mark, powered by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and other banks.

Apple rose 0.89 percent as Wall Street awaited the largest publicly listed company’s quarterly report after the bell, with the iPhone maker expected by analysts to post a 6-percent rise in revenue.
The S&P 500 information technology index is up 22 percent year to date, leading other sectors.