Barometers trade lower; IT shares rise

Key barometers were trading near the day's low in early afternoon trade. At 12:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 59.47 points or 0.15% at 39,623.82. The Nifty 50 index was down 17.55 points or 0.15% at 11,907.20. Weakness in HDFC twins and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) put pressure on bourses.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.20%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.27%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1284 shares rose and 1045 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

Back home, HDFC Bank was down 0.48% at Rs 2,396.60. Housing finance major HDFC was down 1.94% at Rs 2,124.55.

Engineering and construction major L&T was down 1.42% at Rs 1,570.

IT shares moved higher. MphasiS (up 2.35%), Infosys (up 1.23%), TCS (up 1.2%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.96%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.93%), Wipro (up 0.91%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.87%), HCL Technologies (up 0.17%) and MindTree (up 0.09%), edged higher. Persistent Systems was down 1.45%.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 69.64, compared with its close of 69.51 during the previous trading session.

A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.

In the global commodities markets, Brent for July 2019 settlement was up $1.54 at $70.23 a barrel.

Meanwhile, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired AKASH-MK-1S missile from ITR , Chandipur, Odhisa on 25 and 27 May 2019. Akash Mk1S is an upgrade of existing AKASH missile with indigenous Seeker. AKASH Mk1S is a surface to air missile which can neutralize advanced aerial targets. The Akash weapon system has combination of both command guidance and active terminal seeker guidance. Seeker and guidance performance have been consistently established in both the missions. All the mission objectives have been met, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement on 27 May 2019.

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