Market Live: Sensex turns negative, Nifty falls below 9800; banking stocks take a hit

10:25 am Mutual Fund Radar: The total assets of the 10 largest India-focussed offshore funds and ETFs swelled during the quarter ended June 2017 compared with the previous quarter.

It ended the June quarter at USD 27.3 billion compared with USD 25.4 billion in the previous quarter and USD 20.5 billion as of June 30, 2016, Morningstar said in a report.

Positive environment in the domestic markets kept sentiments in the Indian stock markets upbeat, leading almost all the major domestic stock market indexes to surge during the quarter, said the report.

The S&P BSE Sensex Index moved up by 4.4 percent, although it was lower than the 11.2% appreciation it witnessed in the previous quarter (ended March 2017).

10:10 am Market Check: Consolidation continued on equity benchmarks, with Sensex trading flat, while the Nifty had a negative bias.

The drag was led by a fall in banks—Nifty Bank and PSU bank index were trading in the red—while pharmaceuticals and FMCG stocks were in the green.

At 10:03 hrs, the Sensex was up 4.74 points at 31453.77, while the Nifty was down 2.25 points at 9791.90. The market breadth was narrow as 1111 shares advanced against a decline of 714 shares, while 68 shares were unchanged.

Sun Pharma, HUL, ITC and Tata Power gained the most, while L&T, Coal India and Bank of Baroda were the top losers.

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9:55 am Biocon declines: Shares of Biocon took a beating on Wednesday morning as investors turned cautious of the stock following a report from a research firm. It fell over 5 percent intraday.

HSBC in its report hinted that the company may have withdrawn one application for Trastuzumab, a breast cancer similar. The firm quoted the European Medical Agency (EMA) as its source for the information.

Further, it added, that the company could have withdrawn its filing given the recent cGMP (good manufacturing practices) observations that were issued by the regulator.

9:45 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of JK Tyre and Industries declined nearly 8 percent intraday on Wednesday as the company reported net loss in the quarter ended June 2017 (Q1FY18).

The company registered consolidated loss at Rs 108 crore in the quarter ended June 2017 against profit of Rs 100 crore, in the same quarter last year.

Revenue of the company was down at Rs 1,943 crore versus Rs 1,958 crore.

9:35 am Update: Benchmark indices were off the day’s high points, with the Nifty falling below 9800-mark.

The Sensex was down 23.80 points at 31425.23, while the Nifty fell 7.35 points at 9786.80. The market breadth was narrowing as 1,028 shares advanced against a decline of 521 shares, while 57 shares were unchanged.

L&T, Coal India and Bank of Baroda lost the most on both indices, while HUL, HDFC, Indiabulls Housing and Tata Power gained the most.

9:15 am Market Opens: Equity benchmarks continued with its positive momentum from the previous session and opened on a good note, with the Nifty reclaiming 9800-mark.

At 9:16 am, the Sensex was up 77.14 points at 31526.17, while the Nifty rose 23.05 points at 9817.20. The market breadth was positive as 626 shares advanced against a decline of 186 shares, while 27 shares were unchanged.

Midcaps were back in favour as they outperformed the benchmarks, while other gainers included FMCG, auto stocks and metals.

Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Tata Power and BPCL were the top gainers, while Larsen & Toubro, Cipla and Asian Paints lost the most on both indices.

The Indian rupee slipped in the early trade on Wednesday. It has opened lower by 16 paise at 64.28 per dollar versus 64.12 Monday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, “Encouraging US economic data and FII outflows will help the dollar appreciate. We expect the USD-INR to trade in a range of 64-64.50 for the day.”

The US dollar strengthened after economic data, including July retail sales, beat expectations and cast the economy in a relatively favourable light.

Among global markets, Asian shares were mostly higher in early trade as investors digested earnings releases from regional corporates and a resurgent dollar.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged down 0.03 percent, with gains in most tech stocks offset by losses in auto names. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.67 percent as markets returned from a public holiday.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.07 percent, as steep gains in the energy sub-index, which was up by 3.26 percent, were offset by declines in the health care, information technology and financial sub-indexes.

US stocks ended little changed on Tuesday as declines in Home Depot and other retailers following results offset upbeat US retail sales data.
The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index, down 0.9 percent, also took a hit from a steep fall in the shares of Coach and Advance Auto Parts after disappointing results. The S&P 500 retail index was down 1.6 percent.