Market Live: Sensex opens below 33K, Nifty mildly lower; Sun Pharma, Vedanta dip 2%

10:15 am Earnings Reaction: Tour and travel firm Cox & Kings share rallied 6 percent as its consolidated net profit jumped over two-fold to Rs 202.24 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 84.02 crore for the same period of previous fiscal.

The company’s total income from operations, however, declined to Rs 1,600.59 crore for the second quarter, as against Rs 2,575.34 crore in the same period of previous fiscal, Cox & Kings said in a regulatory filing.

Cox and Kings Group CEO Peter Kerkar said all company verticals reported strong organic top line growth during the quarter.

10:05 am Irrigation projects: The Centre has given an in-principle approval to provide an assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to fund 107 irrigation projects in drought-hit Vidarbha and Maratha regions of Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis said the completion of the projects will ensure largescale irrigation facilities in the districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada, known for suicides by farmers, besides in North and Western Maharashtra.

“With this approval, the state will receive Rs 10,000 crore for the next two years for the projects from the Centre,” the Chief Minister said in a statement issued here.

Here are the top headlines at 10 am from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

9:59 am Rupee trade: The rupee edged up 8 paise to 65.34 against the dollar in morning today on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters.

Forex dealers said fresh inflow of foreign funds and weakness in the dollar against other currencies overseas supported the rupee.

However, a lower opening of domestic equities and a widening trade deficit to almost a three-year high capped the gains.

Yesterday, the rupee had ended flat to close at 65.42 against the US currency due to fag-end demand for the greenback amid ballooning trade deficit.

9:50 am Japan’s economic data: Japan’s economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter due to strong exports, posting the longest period of uninterrupted growth in more than a decade.

The economy expanded at a 1.4 percent annualised rate in July-September, slightly above the median estimate for annualised growth of 1.3 percent, Cabinet Office data showed on Wednesday.

That followed revised annualised growth of 2.6 percent in April-June.

Consumer spending fell for the first time in seven quarters but this is expected to be temporary because the economy is near full employment, which should bolster domestic consumption in the future. Rising capital expenditure and exports are also expected to keep the economy growing, which should ease some concerns about sluggish inflation.

9:42 am Earnings Reaction: India’s largest drug maker Sun Pharma share price fell 2 percent after earnings.

The company reported 59 percent decline in net profit to Rs 912.1 crore in the second quarter ended September as the company faces pricing pressure in US generics market.

The company was benefited last year by an extending limited competition for generic blood cancer drug imatinib in US market.

The company reported net profit of Rs 2235 crore in the same period of previous year. Revenues declined 19.5 percent to Rs 6650 crore compared to Rs 8260 crore in the year-ago period.

CNBC TV18 Poll estimated the net profit at Rs 802 crore and revenues at Rs 6861 crore.

9:32 am Oil Update: Oil prices tumbled today, continuing Tuesday’s slide after the International Energy Agency cast doubts over the past months’ narrative of tightening fuel markets.

Brent crude futures were at USD 61.44 per barrel, down 1.24 percent from their last close.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at USD 55.10 per barrel, down over 1.08 percent.

The price falls mean that crude prices are now down by around 5 percent since hitting 2015 highs last week, ending a 40-percent rally between June and early November.

9:25 am Subscription: Bharat 22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), comprising 22 companies, yesterday attracted robust bids with the portion reserved for anchor investors getting subscribed six times to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore on the opening day. The issue opened for subscription today.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund managed Bharat 22 ETF’s new fund offer (NFO) has size of over Rs 8,000 crore.

As much as 25 percent of the total issue size, or Rs 2,000 crore, was reserved for anchor investors who put in bids worth about Rs 12,000 crore, ICICI Prudential MF said.

The NFO received subscriptions from across the board including mutual funds, foreign portfolio investors, insurance and retirement funds.

The issue will remain open till November 17.

9:20 am Buzzing: Share price of Indiabulls Housing Finance advanced 2 percent in morning on the back partial stake sale in OakNorth Bank.

The company has sold 1/3 of its stake (around 10 percent) in OakNorth Bank to Government of Singapore owned investment arm GIC for Rs 770 crore.

The company had invested Rs 663 crore in November 2015 for a 40 percent stake in the bank.

With this divestment the company has recovered its entire investment in bank made 2 years ago. The balance investment of company in the bank is worth Rs 1,510 crore at current valuation.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks opened mildly lower on Wednesday, tracking subdued global cues following correction in metals and crude oil prices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 41.86 points at 32,900.01 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 16.70 points to 10,169.90.

Sun Pharma, Lupin, Vedanta, Hindalco, NALCO, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Infratel and GAIL were early losers while HPCL, BPCL, TCS, Ambuja Cements and Dr Reddy’s Labs were early gainers.

Rain Industries, HEG, Graphite India, Goa Carbon and Phillips Carbon plunged 5 percent.

After earnings, Waterbase, MOIL, Panacea Biotec and Cox & Kings gained 4-6 percent while Corporation Bank, Indiabulls Real, CEAT and JK Tyre lost 1-5 percent.

Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises rallied 3-5 percent post deal.

Jet Airways was up 1 percent as stock is out of NSE F&O ban and ahead of analysts’ meet.

The cautious sentiment from the last session continued through Asia’s today’s trading day, with energy-related plays in the region falling on weakening oil prices.

China’s Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Japan’s Nikkei, Australia’s ASX 200 and South Korea’s Kospi were down 0.3-0.8 percent.
The US markets also closed lower, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite falling 0.1-0.3 percent. Concerns about a potential global economic slowdown and US tax reform dampened investor sentiment.