Market Live: Sensex falls 160 pts, Nifty opens below 10,100 post North Korea threat

10:20 am Downgrade: Standard and Poor’s lowered Hong Kong’s long-term rating from AAA to AA+ following its earlier downgrade of China’s sovereign rating.

“We see very strong institutional and political linkages between China and the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. Following the earlier downgrade of the sovereign credit rating on China, we are lowering the rating on Hong Kong to reflect potential spillover risks to the SAR should deleveraging in China prove to be more disruptive than we currently expect,” S&P said in a statement.

The rating agency downgraded China from AA- to A+ on Thursday, citing debt risk.

S&P changed Hong Kong’s outlook to stable from negative on Friday, and said it expected Hong Kong to “maintain its strong credit metrics across the board in the next two to three years”.

10:10 am Buzzing: New Delhi Television (NDTV) share hit its 5 percent upper circuit after a media report said that founder and owner of SpiceJet Ajay Singh has picked up majority stake in the news channel.

The report stated that Ajay Singh will hold around 40 percent stake in NDTV while promoters Prannoy and Radhika Roy will hold around 20% in the company.

10:05 am Market check: Equity benchmarks fell further in morning trade as the Sensex dropped 255.39 points to 32,114.65 following North Korea threat.

The Nifty has broken the 10,050 level, down 88.25 points at 10,033.65.

About three shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

Asian markets like Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Japan’s Nikki, China’s Shanghai Composite and South Korea’s Kospi were down 0.3-0.8 percent.

Geopolitical concerns over the Korean Peninsula have remained under the spotlight as the Trump administration has attempted to put more pressure on North Korea. President Donald Trump signed on Thursday a new measure that expanded the Treasury Department’s authority to target people and institutions conducting business with the North.

In turn, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Friday that Trump would “pay dearly” for his speech at the United Nations earlier this week.

10:00 am Listing: Reliance Home Finance, the subsidiary of Reliance Capital, is locked at 5 percent upper circuit in opening.

The stock price has opened at Rs 107.20, with traded volumes of 6.24 lakh shares on the National Stock Exchange.

However, Reliance Capital was down 3 percent at Rs 696, extending losses.

9:59 am Buzzing: Shares of KNR Constructions has touched 52-week high of Rs 237.40, adding 12 percent in the early trade Friday on order won worth Rs 884 crore.

“KNR -HES-ACPL joint venture has bagged order worth of Rs 884.47 crore for formation of Konda Pochamma Sagar for a capacity of 15 TMC near Pamulaparthi (v), Markook (M), Siddipet District in the state of Telangana,” company said in press release.

The said order is to be completed within a period of 18 months from the appointed date.

9:50 am Pre-opening: Reliance Home Finance settled at Rs 100 per share in pre-opening trade on the National Stock Exchange.

Reliance Home Finance is a subsidiary of Reliance Capital that fell sharply by 3.87 percent to Rs 689.95.

9:42 am Matrimony.com falls further: Matrimony.com extended losses for the second consecutive session today, falling 4.5 percent to Rs 863.95 against previous closing.

The stock closed sharply lower on its listing day – Thursday. It was down 8.1 percent at Rs 904.65 compared with issue price of Rs 985.

9:35 am Pharma continues to outperform: Nifty Pharma index gained 0.2 percent, outperforming all other indices that are under pressure.

Sun Pharma, Glenmark Pharma, Cadila Healthcare and Dr Reddy’s Labs were up 0.1-1.1 percent.

9:30 am IPO subscription: The Rs 8,400-crore initial public offering of SBI Life Insurance Company has been subscribed 58 percent on final day, as per latest data available on exchanges.

The issue received bids for 5.08 crore equity shares against IPO size of 8.82 crore shares, excluding anchor investors’ portion.

9:25 am Currency outlook: “The dollar is at an inflection point and it is going to be a large determinant of what the broad direction of emerging markets including rupee is going to be,” Brijen Puri, Markets Head-India at JPMorgan said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

“Our base case is that in the medium-term, fundamentally, the dollar should continue to depreciate but in the short-term given the positioning in the market we could see a short-term reversal in dollar, said Puri.

Talking about Fed, he said markets now pricing in one more price hike by Fed in 2017.

According to him, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not comfortable with continued appreciation in rupee. Puri thinks best of rupee appreciation is over.

9:20 am IPO opens: Prataap Snacks’ Rs 482-crore initial public offering has opened for subscription today, with a price band of Rs 930-938 per share.

The issue, which will close on September 26, comprises of fresh issue and offer for sale by promoters and investors.

The public issue comprises of fresh issue of equity shares up to Rs 200 crore and an offer for sale of up to 30,05,770 shares.

An offer for sale includes sale of up to 3,69,451 shares by Sequoia Capital GFIV Mauritius Investment (SCG) and up to 94,266 shares by Sequoia Capital India Growth Investment Holdings I (SCIGIH), which both are investor selling shareholders.

An offer for sale also include sale of up to 13,17,093 shares by SCI Growth Investments II (SCI), up to 1,83,740 shares by Arvind Mehta, up to 1,39,200 shares by Naveen Mehta, up to 1,39,200 shares by Arun Mehta, up to 3,61,920 shares by Rajesh Mehta, up to 66,820 shares by Kanta Mehta, up to 77,950 shares by Premlata Kumat, up to 22,270 shares by Swati Bapna, up to 1,16,930 shares by Apoorva Kumat and up to 1,16,930 shares by Amit Kumat, which are promoter selling shareholders.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks fell sharply in opening on Friday, tracking weakness in Asia post North Korea threatened it could consider testing a nuclear weapon in the Pacific.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 163.54 points at 32,206.50 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 58.25 points to 10,063.65.

All sectoral indices were in red as Nifty Auto, FMCG, Metal and PSU Bank and Private Bank lost 0.4-1 percent.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices dropped 0.7 percent each as about two shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

In broader space, Exide Industries, Graphite India, JP Associates, PTC India and Matrimony.com were down up to 4 percent while Ipca Labs rallied 2.5 percent.

The Indian rupee slipped further as it traded at lowest level since April 5, down 28 paise at 65.11 against the US dollar after flat opening.

It has opened at 64.80 per dollar versus previous close of 64.81.
Yesterday rupee plummeted by 54 paise to end at 64.81 a dollar after the Federal Reserve left the door open for a rate hike in December.