Market Live: Sensex, Nifty continue to remain weak; financials trade weak

11:32 am Market Outlook: IT has been the lone warrior for the bulls off late. Could things for the sector gets better from hereon. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, CP Gurnani, MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra, Farid Kazani, MD of Majesco and Apurva Prasad, Research Analyst-IT at HDFC Securities spoke at length about the sector.

Gurnani said that the commentary from NASSCOM suggested that FY19 would be better.

I feel lot more confident about the IT sector now, said Gurnani.

He further said that we are seeing revival in communication space given 5G.

11:25 am MF news: Mirae Asset Mutual Fund will rename Mirae Asset India Opportunities Fund with effect from March 1, the fund house said in a newspaper notice.

The equity-oriented scheme will be renamed Mirae Asset India Equity Fund.The scheme has been renamed as per the new guidelines set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India on October 6.

11:10 am Electrification plans: Bibek Debroy, economist and chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, has said he had not urged the government to rethink its plans for electrification of the railway network and replacement of its diesel fleet.

A media report had last week said Debroy had sent a note to the PMO and Rail Bhawan asking the government to rethink the railways’ 100 per cent electrification mission.

At the launch of his books, “Bharat vapas patri par” and “Bharatiya rail, desh ki jeevam rekha” yesterday, Debroy said his interaction with the Railway Ministry and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was a continuous one.

10:56 am Agreement: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has entered into an exclusive agreement with South Korea’s Sam Chun Dang Pharm. Co. Ltd. (SCD) to develop, manufacture and market a portfolio of ophthalmic products in the US and Canada.

“Under this agreement, these products will be developed and manufactured by SCD in South Korea. Glenmark will seek all market authorisations and commercialise the products in North America,” the company said in a BSE filing.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals President, North America & Global API, Robert Matsuk said, the agreement for these ophthalmic products is aligned with the company’s strategy to strengthen its focus on complex generic formulations.

10:45 am MF View: After an explosive rally seen in 2017, the year 2018 will be a volatile one, according to Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak Mahindra AMC. In an interview with CNBC-TV18 Shah said new highs will be possible in this year only if corporate earnings growth starts to inch up, and once clarity emerges on the 2019 election verdict.

“New highs on the index will require uptrend in corporate results and some clarity on the 2019 election verdict. Barring PSU banks, most of the companies reported earnings in-line with expectations or little ahead of expectations,” he said.

On sectoral trends, a depreciating rupee and large orders could continue to support IT companies. One big reason which could lead to outperformance is low valuation as well as under ownership.

10:25 am Mutual Fund news: DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund has added two additional payment dates under its systematic investment facility applicable for all open-ended schemes, the fund house said in a newspaper notice.

The unit holders will be able to pay their installments on 5th and 20th of every month, in addition to the existing dates.

10:10 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Bajaj Finserv, Grasim Industries and Titan Company rose more than 1 percent intraday Thursday as they were included in Nifty 50 index.

Meanwhile, shares of Ambuja Cements, Aurobindo Pharma and Bosch slipped 1-2.5 percent as they were excluded from the Nifty 50 index

The changes were announced by India Index Services and Products, an arm of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) as part of its periodic review.

9:47 am Market Outlook: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, from the sideline of the IIFL Enterprising India Conference, Ashutosh Datar, Equity Strategist at IIFL Institutional Equities shared his views and readings on the market.

Datar said that focus should be on companies where earnings momentum is strong.

He further said that there are opportunities to buy and be underweight in financial sector.

9:39 am Allahabad Bank declines: Shares of Allahabad Bank lost over 3 percent intraday on Thursday as investors reacted to its announcement of exposure to Rotomac Group.

In a filing to exchanges, the public sector bank declared that it has exposure of over Rs 500 crore to the group. Further, it clarified that the said amount has been declared as a non-performing asset (NPA) and the required provision has been made.

It also informed that some accounts have been filed under National Company Law Tribunal as well.

9:29 am Expert view: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Richard Harris, Chief Executive at Port Shelter Investment Management shared his views and readings on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes and emerging markets.

Harries said that the FOMC minutes does not tell anything new.

Talking about dollar, he said dollar and US treasury yields rising in tandem is a temporary feature.

9:15 am Market Opens: Benchmark indices began the day on a negative note, with the Sensex cracking over 100 points. The Nifty was trading below 10,350-mark.

The Sensex is currently down 117.85 points or 0.35% at 33727.01, and the Nifty is down 52.95 points or 0.51% at 10344.50. The market breadth favours the decline as 192 shares advanced, against a decline of 329 shares , while 91 shares are unchanged.

All sectoral indices are trading in the red, while midcaps are also trading weak. Nifty PSU bank index is down over 1 percent.

Wipro, Bajaj Auto and Kotak Mahindra Bank are the top gainers, while ONGC, BPCL, Aurobindo Pharma and SBI have lost the most.

The Indian rupee declined in the early trade on Thursday. It has opened lower by 29 paise at 65.05 per dollar versus 64.76 Wednesday.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, “US FOMC minutes caused market volatility with US treasury yields touching a new high, US stock markets reversing early gains and dollar strengthening further.”

“Recent negative developments in Indian banking sector has put pressure on the rupee. The USD-INR is expected to trade in a range of 64.75-65.05 for the day.”

Among global markets, Asian shares slipped as the risk of faster hikes in U.S interest rates lifted short-term Treasury yields to the highest in almost a decade and boosted the dollar.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.35 percent in early trade, while E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei shed 1 percent even as the yen gave back some of its recent gains on the dollar.

US stocks closed lower on Wednesday in a rocky session after the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January meeting pushed yields on the benchmark 10-year U. Treasury note to a four-year high.

After the Fed left interest rates unchanged in January, minutes showed the US central bank’s rate-setting committee grew more confident in the need to keep raising rates, with most believing inflation would perk up amid an improving economic landscape.

Stocks initially reacted positively, with each of the major Wall Street indexes touching session highs. Stocks began to pare gains, however, as bond yields climbed to a four-year high of 2.957 percent on the likelihood of further rate increases this year.