Market breadth turns negative

Stocks once again drifted lower in afternoon trade amid mild volatility. At 13:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 17.78 points or 0.05% at 36,426.86. The Nifty 50 index was down 2.25 points or 0.02% at 10,920.50

After opening on a flat note, key indices declined to fresh intraday low in morning trade. Indices sharply pared losses in mid-morning trade. Benchmarks turned positive in early afternoon trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.17%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.28%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On BSE, 1145 shares rose and 1186 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 3.4%), Yes Bank (up 3.2%), Tata Steel (up 1.67%), Hindustan Unilever (up 1.35%) and Bajaj Finance (up 0.93%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

HDFC (down 1.19%), Infosys (down 1.05%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 0.81%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Maruti Suzuki India shed 0.11%. Maruti Suzuki India launched the 3rd generation WagonR today. The Big New WagonR is poised to impress customers with its bold design, enhanced space, comfort, next generation infotainment system and advanced K-series engine offering excellent fuel efficiency and driving pleasure. Maruti Suzuki and its partners have invested approx. Rs 670 crore for development of Big New WagonR. The announcement was made during market hours today, 23 January 2019.

ITC was up 1.09% ahead of its Q3 December 2018 quarterly results today, 23 January 2019.

Overseas, Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday on the back of concerns over the state of ongoing US-China trade negotiations, amid reports that the White House had canceled a trade planning meeting with Beijing this week.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) cut its inflation forecasts and stuck to its ultra-loose monetary policy on Wednesday. The central bank maintained its view that Japan's economy, the world's third largest, will continue to expand at a modest pace. The BoJ cut its forecast for core consumer inflation to 0.9% in the fiscal year beginning in April from 1.4%.

US stocks closed lower Tuesday, snapping a four-day winning streak, as trade woes and fresh concerns over the state of the global economy greeted investors returning from the long holiday weekend.

Shares dropped following a media report which said the US had canceled a trade meeting with Chinese officials due to a lack of progress in areas including "forced" technological transfers and economic reforms. However, the market trimmed its losses late in the session after White House adviser Larry Kudlow reportedly denied that the US rejected China's overtures.

Investors also digested a fresh round of corporate earnings and paid close attention to management commentary on the global economic outlook. Meanwhile, a partial US government shutdown stretched into its 32nd day on Tuesday.

On US data front, existing-home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.99 million in December, their lowest in three years, according to the National Association of Realtors.

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