Market Live: Sensex, Nifty open mildly lower amid North Korea tensions

10:20 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to fall in morning as fresh missile launch by North Korea weighed.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 45.66 points at 32196.27 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 24 points to 10,062.60.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices underperformed benchmarks, falling over half a percent on weak breadth. About two shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

10:05 am FII View: A sense of nervousness is existing in the Asian markets today after North Korea fired yet another missile over Japan.

Something like this should make global markets very concerned, Seth Freeman of EM Capital Management said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

On Indian markets, he said that if you are a trader then there are still opportunities to invest. Indian market and Indian economy is finally at relatively stable upward trajectory point, he added.

Ken Peng, Asia Pacific Investment Strategist at Citi Private Bank said that the latest developments from North Korea will be a headline risk for quite some time to come.

The market is getting used to the launches of missiles by North Korea and more and more investors understand that there is an insurmountable risk for any military action, he added.

9:58 am Buzzing: Share price of Ujaas Energy advanced 10 percent in early trade today on the back orders win.

The company has received letter of award of contract from WBREDA (West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency) for installation and commissioning of 150 rooftop grid connected solar PV power plants each in array capacity of 10Kwp at various locations of West Bengal.

The company also received letter of award from Oil India for EPC contract for solar energy generation project of 500 KW at pump station of Oil India at Jorhat in the state of Assam.

It has received letter of allocation from SECI for an aggregate capacity of 20.03 MW for implementation of grid connected rooftop solar PV system scheme for government building in different states/union territory of India.

9:55 am FII View: Christopher Wood of CLSA said the sentiment for Asian equities has been distinctly upbeat at this year’s 24th CLSA Investors’ Forum. It is always nice to be a contrarian, he added.

Still Greed & Fear shares the upbeat mood, most particularly towards China and Indian equities, he said.

Wood said a 3 percent investment will be initiated in Indian consumer finance play, Indiabulls Ventures. This will be paid for by shaving the existing investments in HDFC Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Bajaj Finance by 1 percent each, he added.

9:45 am IPO: ICICI Lombard General Insurance’s Rs 5,700-crore IPO opened for subscription today, with a price band of Rs 651-661 per share.

The company raised Rs 1,624.77 crore by allotting 2.45 crore shares to 64 anchor investors at the upper band of Rs 661 apiece.

The issue will close on September 19.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Canadian NRI Prem Watsa-promoted Fairfax Financial Holdings.

The company’s initial public offer (IPO) involves dilution of up to 86,247,187 equity shares by promoters — ICICI Bank and Fairfax. The initial share-sale offer would close on September 19.

9:35 am Buzzing: Shares of Vedanta slipped further today, on top of 2 percent correction in previous session after Odisha pollution board asked company to shut down plant.

The Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) in Jharsuguda has ordered temporary shut-down of its five units following a breach in its ash pond dyke wall in August.

The firm has been asked to close three units of 135MW of the 1215MW power plant and two units of 600mw each of the 2400MW power plant.

9:25 am Block deal: Shares of Max Financial Services gained around five percent in early trade today on the back of a block deal.

Around 74 lakh shares of the company were traded in five blocks on the BSE at an average price of Rs 602 per share.

Interestingly, Xenok and GS Mace were reportedly looking to sell 11.8 million shares at a floor price of Rs 595 per share today.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off last day of the week on a negative note, tracking weakness in Asia post North Korea launched a missile that flew over Japan.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 28.52 points at 32,213.41 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 13.70 points to 10,072.90.

Tata Steel, Vedanta, Sun Pharma, Lupin and Indiabulls Housing were under pressure. BHEL gave up yesterday’s gains, down nearly 3 percent.

In broader space, Indiabulls Venturs, Sunil Hitech, Max Financial, SpiceJet, Bombay Dyeing, Liberty Shoes, Container Corporation, Avenue Supermarts and Future Retail rallied up to 6 percent.
Bajaj Finance, Indiabulls Real and Voltas were under pressure.