Benchmarks extend losses

Key equity benchmarks extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in afternoon trade. At 13:35 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex fell 279.90 points or 0.73% at 38,025.51. The Nifty 50 index also declined 66.50 points or 0.59% at 11,293.40.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.07%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.12%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, shares 947 rose and 1,195 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

BPCL (up 5.31%), IOCL (up 2.39%), HCL Technologies (up 1.88%), Cipla (up 1.10%) and ITC (up 0.99%) advanced.

Hindalco (down 3.87%), Tata Steel (down 2.99%), Grasim Industries (down 2.71%), Axis Bank (down 2.52%) and HDFC Bank (down 2.31%) declined.

Yes Bank jumped 24.22%. The bank said that the forced sale of 10 crore equity shares (3.92% of the bank's equity share capital) triggered by an invocation of pledge on the equity shares of a large stakeholder. With this sale, the entire pledge stands extinguished and all sale under the same is duly completed. The bank said that it's financial and operating metrics remain intrinsically sound and stable with liquidity position well in excess of regulatory requirements. The announcement was made yesterday, 2 October 2019, when stock markets were closed for local holiday.

Tata Motors jumped 5.59%. Sales in the domestic and international market stood at 36,376 vehicles in September 2019 compared to 69,991 units in September 2018. The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 1 October 2019.

Hero MotoCorp fell 0.07%. The company sold 6.12 lakh units of motorcycles and scooters in September 2019. With this, the company registered a growth of 12.6% over August 2019 when it had sold 5.43 lakh units. To add cheer to the festive season, Hero MotoCorp has introduced a holistic range of benefits and schemes, covering sales and after-sales for customers around the country. The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 1 October 2019.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 0.07%. M&M along with Ford Motor Company Inc., USA (FMC) has executed a Business Transfer Agreement and Share Subscription Agreement to enable the formation of a joint venture by way of the company and/ or its subsidiaries acquiring 51 % of the equity share capital of Ardour Automotive Private Limited, presently a wholly owned subsidiary of FMC (NewCo) in India. The balance 49% equity shareholding in NewCo will be held by FMC and/ or any of its affiliates. NewCo will acquire the automotive business of Ford India Private Limited (FIPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of FMC. Upon completion of the business transfer, the Agreements contemplate the execution of a Joint Venture Agreement and other ancillary documents between the company and/ or its Subsidiaries and FMC and/ or any of its affiliates. The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 1 October 2019.

Infosys gained 0.09%. Infosys announced a new strategic program, Innov8, to accelerate enterprise digital transformation journeys using SAP digital solutions. As part of the program, Infosys and SAP are in talks to create a joint go-to-market engagement model between project Embrace from SAP and Infosys' Innov8 program. The joint engagement model is intended to help companies accelerate their digital transformation based on SAP S/4HANA to build intelligent enterprises. The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 1 October 2019.

Eicher Motors advanced 1.77%. The company's motorcycles sales fell 17% to 59,500 units in September 2019 as compared to September 2018.

State-run Coal India fell 3.92%. The coal production for the month of September 2019 declined 23.5% to 30.77 million tonne as compared to 40.25 million tonne in September 2018. The offtake declined 20% to 35.18 million tonne in September 2019 as against 43.98 million tonne in September 2018.

TCS rose 0.40%. The IT major announced that the 'TCS HOBS' (Hosted OSS/BSS) platform is powering Jurassic Fibre's new, ultrafast full fibre optic broadband offerings to towns and rural communities in the South West of England.

Wipro gained 1.71% after it announced its plans to collaborate with ICICI Bank to absorb certain employees of Vara lnfotech along with its existing contracts, facilities and assets through a business transfer agreement.

Shares of Vedanta tumbled 4.89%. A brokerage house put a 'buy' rating recommendation despite cutting its target price to Rs 180 per share from Rs 200 per share. The brokerage firm stated that it has lowered EBITDA estimates for FY 2020-22 on lower commodity prices.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises soared 6.25%. The company's lenders have reportedly extended its line of credit by another 6 months to pay off its debts.

IndusInd Bank hit an intraday low of Rs 1,220, which is also a 52-week low for the counter. The stock was 2.83% down at Rs 1,257.90.

Overseas, European stocks were mixed while Asian stocks were trading lower on Thursday after the United States said it will impose tariffs on $7.5 billion of goods from the European Union. Markets in China and South Korea are closed on Thursday for holidays.

Meanwhile, European Union (EU) manufacturers are already facing a double whammy with EU levies on steel and aluminum and a threat by the Trump Administration to penalize EU cars and automobile parts. The prospect of the EU responding in kind to US will result in fuel concerns and trigger slower global growth.

The United States on Wednesday said it would slap 10% tariffs on European-made Airbus planes and 25% duties on French wine, Scotch and Irish whiskies, and cheese from across the continent as punishment for illegal EU aircraft subsidies.

US stocks dropped on Wednesday with data showing slower job creation adding to concerns about a weakening manufacturing sector as President's Trump's trade policies take their toll.

A private-sector employment report from Automatic Data Processing showed that a modest 135,000 jobs were created in September, and the average monthly job growth for the past three months also fell to 145,000 from 214,000 for the same time period last year.

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