Markets trade marginally lower in noon trade; Sun Pharma down 2%

Benchmark indices were trading marginally lower in the noon trade weighed down by geopolitical concerns as US President Donald Trump ordered a targeted military strike against an airfield in Syria from which a deadly chemical attack was launched this week.

 

Back home, parliament passed 4 GST regulations paving way for July 1 implementation and RBI’s hiked the reverse repo rate also capped the sentiment.

 

At 11:57 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,828 down 99 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,238 down 23 points.

 

In the broader market, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap fell 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

 

"Despite candlestick patterns forewarns bear signals, trendline patterns are still positive, suggestive that early dips could suck in short sellers, and could spark a rally later, putting the prices back into the 9,350-9,500 trajectory. However, should 9,200 region fail to hold, bulls could be understood to have loosened grip, leading to an extended period of consolidation," said Geojit Financial Services in a technical note.

Sectors and Stocks

Sun Pharma, RIL, Adani Ports, Power Grid and Tata Motors were the top laggards on BSE Sensex while Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Tata Steel were the top gainers.

Sun Pharma fell over 2% after media reports that USFDA has conducted a surprise audit at its Dadra plant. 

RIL also shed 1% after Reliance Jio withdrew it's three-month summer surprise offer after order from TRAI. Rival Bharti Airtel surged 2%, becoming the too gainer on Sensex after the announcement.

Adani Ports fell 1.5% after Goldman Sachs removed the company from Asia Pacific Conviction buy list and downgraded the stock to ‘Neutral’ and set a target price at Rs 371. 

Other Developments

 

Meanwhile, rupee on Thursday soared to a near 20-month high of 64.52. The currency opened at 64.61, down 9 paise from yesterday’s close.

 

Oil prices surged more than 2% on Friday after the United States launched dozens of cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria. Brent crude futures jumped to $56.08 per barrel before easing to be up 1.6 % at $55.75 per barrel.  US WTI crude futures also climbed by over 2%, to a high of $52.94 a barrel before receding to be up 1.8% at $52.61.

 

On Thursday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 142.68 crore, while Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 205.64 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

 

Parliament passes 4 GST legislations

 

Parliament on Thurday gave nod to four related legislations that detail the provision of this single tax regime that will replace multiple state and central taxes to create one national market

 

This would pave the way for rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the target date of July 1. The Central GST Bill, 2017; Integrated GST Bill, 2017; GST (Compensation to States) Bill, 2017; and Union Territory GST Bill, 2017, were returned by the Rajya Sabha after negation of a host of amendments moved by the Opposition parties.

 

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said that once the new regime is implemented harassment of businesses by different authorities will end, and India will have one rate for one commodity throughout the country.

 

Global Markets

 

Stocks slumped and safe haven bonds and the yen jumped in Asia on Friday after the United States launched cruise missiles against an air base in Syria, potentially escalating the conflict and spooking investors globally.

 

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5% in short order while other Asian peers, Hang Seng and Shanghai were trading lower by 1.19 % and 0.16%, respectively. Nikkei was trading up by 0.35% in the morning trade.

 

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.07% while the S&P 500 gained 0.19% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.25%.