Market breadth turns negative

Fresh selling in index pivotals pulled the key benchmark indices in negative zone in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 29.52 points or 0.09% at 33,817.71. The Nifty 50 index was down 5.45 points or 0.05% at 10,141.35. IT stocks fell.

The Sensex was currently trading below the psychological 34,000 level after moving above and below that level in intraday trade. Domestic bourses opened on firm note on bargain hunting after a prior four-day slide. Stocks trimmed gains in morning trade. Indices pared further gains in mid-morning trade as stocks came off day's high. Stocks hovered in a small range with positive bias in early afternoon trade. Key equity indices firmed up in afternoon trade.

Back home, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was off 0.08%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.07%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On the BSE, 1149 shares rose and 1328 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

Bajaj Auto lost 4.19% after the company reported 4% rise in profit after tax to Rs 1152 crore on 22% increase in turnover (net) to Rs 8368 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017. The result was announced during trading hours today, 24 October 2018.

Bajaj Auto said its EBITDA rose 5% to Rs 1,454 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017. EBITDA margin was reported at 18% in Q2 September 2018, lower than 20.8% in Q2 September 2017. Total motorcycle sales rose 23% to 11,26,542 units in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017. Total commercial vehicles sales rose 39% to 2,12,902 units in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017.

IT stocks fell. Infosys (down 1.2%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 7.64%), TCS (down 0.21%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.23%), MindTree (down 1.31%), Hexaware Technologies (down 1.79%) and Mphasis (down 3.52%) declined.

Wipro fell 1.12% ahead of its September quarterly result today, 24 October 2018.

HCL Technologies was up 1.71%. On a consolidated basis, HCL Technologies' net income rose 5.7% to Rs 2540 crore on 7.1% increase in revenue to Rs 14861 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q1 June 2018. Earnings before interest & tax (EBIT) rose 8.7% to Rs 2,966 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q1 June 2018. The result was announced after trading hours yesterday, 23 October 2018.

The company sees FY2019 revenues growth between 9.5% to 11.5% in constant currency. FY2019 operating margin (EBIT) is expected in range from 19.5% to 20.5%.

C.Vijayakumar, President & CEO, HCL Technologies said that the company continues to deliver strong and consistent QoQ revenue and margin growth performance.

Overseas, European stocks were higher Wednesday, as investors monitored a fresh batch of economic data and a flurry of corporate earnings results. Most Asian stocks declined on concerns about the corporate earnings outlook in an environment of tightening financial conditions.

US stocks fell yesterday, 23 October 2018 as a big drop in the Chinese market revived fresh questions about the global economy. Sentiment remained fragile after Caterpillar repeated a warning from earlier this year about rising costs due to higher steel prices and US tariffs.

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