Indices sharply pare losses; Nifty above 11,500-mark

Key barometers staged a sharp recovery in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty crossed above 11,500-mark. At 14:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 59.76 points or 0.15% at 38,762.81. The Nifty 50 index was down 10.20 points or 0.09% at 11,502.20.

In broader markets, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.01%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.07%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, shares 652 rose and 1,741 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 20 stocks advanced while 30 stocks declined.

Pharmaceuticals were under pressure. Wockhardt (down 6.96%), Piramal Enterprises (down 6.46%), Sun Pharmaceuticals (down 3.43%), Cipla (down 3.35%), Cadila Healthcare (down 3.23%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 2.94%), Alkem Laboratories (down 1.97%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 1.97%), IPCA Laboratories (down 1.68%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 1.35%), Lupin (down 1.33%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 1.06%) slumped. The S&P BSE Healthcare index was down 1.74% at 12,472.19.

Infibeam Avenues fell 4.04% to Rs 40.35 after credit ratings agency, ICRA, revised its ratings on the company's long term fund based facilities to [ICRA] A- from [ICRA] A. The downgrade was due to moderation in margins while scaling up certain new business segments. The announcement was made during market hours today, 30 September 2019.

Shares of HDIL slumped 4.91%. The managing director of the crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC), Joy Thomas, has reportedly admitted to the RBI that the bank's actual exposure to HDIL is over Rs 6,500 crore, or a staggering 73% of its entire assets of Rs 8,880 crore. As per regulations, single entity exposure limit for banks is 15% of their capital fund. For group companies, the exposure limit is 20%. Thus, PMC's exposure to HDIL is almost four-times of what RBI mandates.

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged lower and was hovering at 70.75, compared with its close of 70.565 during the previous trading session.

Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.695% at 14:15 IST compared with 6.729% at close in the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for December 2019 settlement was down 40 cents at $60.64 a barrel. The contract fell 70 cents or 1.13% to settle at $61.04 a barrel in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 October 2019 settlement fell 0.65% at Rs 37,504.

On the domestic macro front, India's infrastructure output data for August will be unveiled after market hours on today, 30 September 2019.

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