Market Live: Sensex extends losses after TDP quits NDA govt; Nifty tests 10,300

11:32 am Stake Sale: Private sector lender Yes Bank has sold 2.17 percent stake in Fortis Healthcare, out of over 17 percent stake it acquired last month.

In a regulatory filing, Yes Bank said it had sold 1.12 crore shares representing 2.17 percent stake of Fortis Healthcare in the open market between February 23 and March 15, 2018.

Yes Bank had acquired 17.31 percent stake in Fortis Healthcare following invocation of nearly 9 crore pledged shares last month.

“Yes Bank has acquired 8,97,81,906 equity shares having nominal value of Rs 10 per share of the company pursuant to invocation of pledge on the said equity shares subsequent to default by promoter group companies in the credit facility provided by the bank,” Fortis Healthcare had said.

The shares were acquired by Yes Bank on February 16, consequent upon invocation of pledge on these shares, it added.

11:20 am Dividend: DLF informed exchanges that a meeting of the board of the directors is scheduled to be held on March 20, 2018, to consider declaration of interim dividend for the FY18.

11:10 am Order Win: The railways strategic business unit of L&T Construction’s Transportation Infrastructure Business has signed a major contract worth Rs 2,864 crore with the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL).

Here are the top headlines at 11 am from Moneycontrol News’ Sakshi Batra

10:58 am Zensar extends partnership with Microsoft: Share price of Zensar Technologies added 2.6 percent Friday as company has extended strategic partnership with Microsoft.

Zensar Technologies extended its managed partner relationship with Microsoft in South Africa in the global systems integrator market.

10:45 am Hindustan Zinc declares second interim dividend: Hindustan Zinc considered and approved the second interim dividend of Rs 6 per equity share i.e. 300 percent on face value of Re 2 per equity share for the financial year 2017-18.

10:30 am Market Update: Benchmark indices fell further amid political upheaval after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) formally decided to quit the NDA government.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 192.96 points at 33,492.58 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 57.90 points to 10,302.30.

The midcaps also erased early gains to trade flat.

Nifty Metal was the biggest loser among sectoral indices, falling over 1 percent followed by FMCG, Auto, Bank and IT.

10:25 am Market trivia: Yields on the three-month US treasury bill recently hit 1.7 percent. And as yields rise, so do short-term rates on consumer and business loans. The last time this happened was back in 2008.

10:20 am Rupee Trade: The rupee reversed opening losses to gain 2 paise at 64.91 against the US dollar.

The rupee was down 3 paise in opening on strength in dollar against other currencies overseas as traders eye next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting, and a lower opening in domestic equities kept pressure on the domestic unit, dealers said.

Meanwhile, data released by the commerce ministry showed, exports grew by 4.5 per cent in February, the lowest expansion in the last four months, to USD 25.8 billion as shipments of engineering, textiles and gems and jewellery declined, while trade deficit narrowed to a five-month low of USD 12 billion.

Yesterday, the rupee fell by 10 paise to end at 64.93 against the American currency due to sustained foreign fund outflows amid growing prospects of rate hike by the US Fed next week.

10:12 am Deal Break-up: Edelweiss Financial Services said its acquisition of Religare Enterprises Ltd’s securities business had been terminated for want of necessary approvals.

“Due to the seller’s inability to obtain the requisite clearances within the agreed timeline, the binding agreement has come to an end on March 15, 2018”, the company said in a statement.

Edelweiss Group’s wealth management unit had in December said it would acquire the securities business of Religare Enterprises for an undisclosed sum.

10:02 am Market Update: Benchmark indices extended losses amid political developments after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) formally decided to quit the NDA government.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 187.17 points at 33,498.37 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 51.20 points to 10,309.

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

10:00 Politics: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) formally decided to quit the NDA, days after two of its ministers quit the Narendra Modi government protesting for Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

The party will also move a no-confidence motion against the Modi government over the injustice meted out to the state, an official communique said.

Union ministers — P Ashok Gajapati Raju and Y S Chowdary — had quit on March 8 after a meeting with the prime minister over the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The TDP politburo unanimously took the decision during a tele-conference with party supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu this morning.

9:52 am Infosys Q4 Earnings: Infosys informed exchanges that a meeting of the board of directors will be held on April 12 & 13, 2018 to consider the audited consolidated financial statements of the company and its subsidiaries as per Indian Accounting Standards (INDAS) for the quarter and year ending March 31, 2018.

The board will also consider the audited consolidated financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries as per INDAS for the year ending March 31, 2018 and the audited condensed standalone financial statements of the Company as per INDAS for the quarter and year ending March 31, 2018;

The audited consolidated financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in INR for the quarter and year ending March 31, 2018 will also consider by the board.

The financial results would be finally approved by the board on April 13, 2018, Infosys said.

9:45 am Market Update: The market extended opening losses amid sluggish global cues and trade war concerns, weighed by oil, financials, technology stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 131.36 points at 33,554.18 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 34.90 points to 10,325.30.

About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Midcaps continued to outperform frontliners, with the Nifty Midcap index up 0.2 percent.

9:35 am Buzzing: State-run coal mining company Coal India shares lost as much as 6 percent after the stock adjusted for bonus share issue.

The board of directors of the company, on March 10, had approved payment of interim dividend for the financial year 2017-18 at Rs 16.50 per share of the face value of Rs 10 as recommended by the Audit Committee.

The company has fixed March 19 as record date for the payment of interim dividend while the date of payment of interim dividend is on and from March 23.

9:26 am Market Outlook: Aditya Agarwal, Head Technical Research, Way2Wealth Brokers said going forward, Nifty has an immediate support near 10,285 and any sustain move below this level will lead to further correction towards 10,210-10,141 levels. On the other side, 10,478 will act an immediate hurdle above which the index likely to rally towards 10,630.

In last 3 trading sessions, we have seen aggressive call writing at 10500 strike option and that will act as a stiff resistance zone for Nifty and similarly on lower side Put writing at 10300-10200 options will prove as immediate support.

Overall, he expects markets to consolidate between broad range of 10,240-10,520 levels for few sessions before giving any fresh breakout on either side.

9:20 am JP Associates in focus: Shares of  Jaiprakash Associates zoomed 15 percent as RARE Enterprises has bought 3 crore shares of the company.

Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s RARE Enterprises has picked up 3 crore shares of Jaiprakash Associates at an average price of Rs18.37 on Thursday, NSE bulk deals data showed.

The investor first bought shares of Jaiprakash Associates in the year 2017. The shareholding pattern for the quarter ended June 2017 showed that he picked up 2.5 crore shares, amounting to 1.03 percent stake in the company. However, he later pared the stake below 1 percent.

9:15 am Market Check: Benchmark indices started off last day of the week on a negative note amid sluggish global cues and trade war concerns.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 123.61 points at 33,561.93 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 33.10 points to 10,327.10.

Nifty Midcap was up 23 points. Jaiprakash Associates rallied 15 percent.

Religare Enterprises lost 4 percent after Edelweiss called off deal with the company.

Gravita India, Dilip Buildcon, Graphite India and ITDC gained up to 7 percent while Central Bank of India, IDBI Bank, SBI and PNB were mildly lower.

Asian markets were mostly lower on the last day of the trading week amid a backdrop of global trade-related developments and news out of Washington.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gave up earlier gains to slip 0.57 percent and in Seoul, the Kospi edged down 0.49 percent.

China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.12 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.3 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 115 points on Thursday, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite closed lower as investors assessed the possibility of a trade war.