Benchmarks turn range bound; pharma stocks buck trend

Key indices were trading in a narrow range with steep losses in mid-morning trade. The Nifty hovered around 11,400 mark. At 11:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 451 points or 1.16% at 38,539.67. The Nifty 50 index declined 130 points or 1.13% at 11,399.30. Weak global cues and rising COVID-19 cases put pressure on bourses.

The broader market slipped after three-day gains. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.55% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.49%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 838 shares rose and 1494 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 7.72 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 120.08 crore in the Indian equity market on 3 September 2020, provisional data showed.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 26,220,930 with 867,630 deaths. India reported 8,31,124 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 68,472 deaths while 30,37,151 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Earnings Today:

NALCO, Jubilant Lifesciences, Repco Home Finance, Future Retail, Goodyear India and NLC India are some of the companies that will announce their quarterly earnings today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index gained 0.38% to 11,555.75. The index has risen 4.3% in four days.

Biocon (up 1.4%), Sun Pharmaceutical Inds (up 0.9%), Cipla (up 0.87%), Divi's Lab (up 0.62%), Torrent Pharma (up 0.52%) and Cadila Healthcare (up 0.25%) were top gainers in pharmaceutical space.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Canara Bank (down 1.98%), Escorts (down 1.62%), Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 1.78%), Vodafone Idea (up 0.08%) and Punjab National Bank (down 1.88%) were banned from trading in NSE's F&O segment after the securities crossed 95% of market wide position limit.

5paisa Capital gained 1.89% to Rs 386 after the company's board approved raising upto Rs 1,150 crore through a combination of debt and equity. Meanwhile, the board approved the appointment of Ravi Garikipati as an additional non-executive and independent director of the company with effect from 3 September 2020.

Panacea Biotec fell 1.11% to Rs 187.30 after the company's consolidated net loss stood at Rs 69.70 crore in Q1 June 2020 compared with net profit of Rs 185.87 crore in Q1 June 2019. Consolidated net sales rose 2.2% to Rs 125.36 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019. Pre-tax loss stood at Rs 60.55 crore in Q1 June 2020 as against pre-tax profit of Rs 188.47 crore in Q1 June 2019.

Global Markets:

Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading lower on Friday following sharp declines on Wall Street overnight.

In US, stocks fell sharply on Thursday as tech stocks reversed uptrend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 807.77 points, or 2.8%, to 28,292.73 for its biggest one-day decline since June 11. The S&P 500 slid 3.5% to 3,455.06 and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 5% to close at 11,458.10.

Apple shares fell 8% for their biggest one-day decline since March 16. Amazon and Netflix were both down more than 4% and Facebook slid 3.8%. Microsoft slipped 6.2%. Alphabet pulled back by 5.1%.

In economic data, the number of first-time filers for unemployment benefits totaled 881,000 for the week ending August 29, compared to 1.011 million in the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday. US imports jumped nearly 11% in July, driving the trade gap up to $63.6 billion in the month, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

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