Benchmarks trade in range

The Sensex and the Nifty traded in a narrow range near day's low in early afternoon trade. At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 237.39 points or 0.64% at 36,733.70. The Nifty 50 index was down 70.55 points or 0.64% at 10,998.85. The Nifty was trading below 11,000 mark after slipping below that level in morning trade.

The market opened lower and declined further as the session progressed. Negative leads from Asian markets and overnight slide on the Wall Street spoiled investors sentiment. Indices turned range bound in early afternoon trade.

Selling was broad based. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.05%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.48%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 807 shares rose and 1380 shares fell. A total of 119 shares were unchanged.

IT shares were mixed. Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.12%), Persistent Systems (down 1.11%), MphasiS (down 0.63%), MindTree (down 0.43%), TCS (down 0.24%) and Wipro (down 0.17%), edged lower. HCL Technologies (up 0.55%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.57%), Infosys (up 0.67%) and Hexaware Technologies (up 1.17%), edged higher.

Most pharmaceutical shares declined. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 2.97%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 2.66%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 2.36%), Wockhardt (down 2.31%), Strides Shasun (down 2.09%), Piramal Enterprises (down 1.49%), IPCA Laboratories (down 1.3%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 1.27%), Lupin (down 1.24%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.33%), edged lower. Divi's Laboratories (up 0.41%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.81%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.95%) and Cipla (up 1.45%), edged higher.

Shipping Corporation of India jumped 6.65% after net profit surged 119.72% to Rs 180.54 crore on 25.02% rise in total income to Rs 1237.30 crore in Q3 December 2018 over Q3 December 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 February 2019.

Overseas, stocks in Asia slipped on Friday amid growing concerns over the trade fight between the US and China. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would not meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before the 2 March deadline to reach a Chinese-US trade deal.

Meanwhile, a round of weak data from the European Union underscored global growth concerns. German industrial production unexpectedly fell by 0.4% in December from the month before. Meanwhile, the European Commission cut its growth forecast for the shared currency bloc Thursday, predicting that the 19-member eurozone will collectively grow by just 1.3% this year, down from the 1.9% forecast in November.

US stock benchmarks on Thursday finished the session firmly lower as worries about sluggish growth outside of the US and diminishing expectations for a quick resolution to a US-China trade spat, buffeted markets.

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell in the week ended 2 February by 19,000 to 234,000.

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