Market breadth turns negative from positive

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After languishing near the flat line in morning trade, key benchmark indices hit intraday lows in mid-morning trade on weakness in Asian stocks. At 11:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 25.88 points or 0.08% at 34,417.31. The Nifty 50 index declined 12.45 points or 0.12% at 10,624.55. The Sensex had hit a record high in early trade. The movement of key indices was confined to a narrow range around the flat line so far.

Among secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.11%, underperforming the Sensex. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.02%, outperforming the Sensex.

Overseas, most Asian stocks edged lower. US equities rose to record highs yesterday, 9 January 2018 as investors remained optimistic about the market heading into the corporate earnings season.

Back home, the breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On the BSE, 1,336 shares declined and 1,244 shares advanced. A total of 114 shares were unchanged.

Auto stocks edged lower. Ashok Leyland (down 1.46%), Eicher Motors (down 1.22%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.53%), Hero MotoCorp (down 0.29%) and TVS Motor Company (down 0.21%) declined. Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.26%) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.23%) edged higher.

Tata Motors was down 0.26% at Rs 435.40. The company said that its global wholesales, including Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), risen 23% at 1.16 lakh units in December 2017 over December 2016. The announcement was made during market hours today, 10 January 2018.

Metal and mining stocks were mixed. NMDC (up 0.91%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.76%), Hindustan Copper (up 0.68%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.68%) and Hindalco Industries (up 0.31%) gained. JSW Steel (down 1.38%), Tata Steel (down 1.02%), Nalco (down 0.18%) and Vedanta (down 0.18%) edged lower. SAIL was unchanged at Rs 97.90.

Balasore Alloys jumped 11.03% at Rs 88.10 after the company announced that it shall acquire either by itself and/or through its nominees and affiliates, 70% shares of Zimbabwe Alloys. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 9 January 2018.

Balasore Alloys said that consequent upon a scheme of arrangement sanctioned by the High Court of Zimbabwe on 20 December 2017 received by the company on 8 January 2018, Balasore Alloys, by virtue of the scheme being approved by the requisite margins of members and creditors of Zimbabwe Alloys (ZAL), shall acquire either by itself and/or through its nominees and affiliates, 70% shares of Zimbabwe Alloys (ZAL), currently under Judicial Management. ZAL holds 19,780 hectares of mining areas in different parts of Zimbabwe, which has proven resources of 72.25 million tones of chrome ore. Zimbabwe Alloys Chrome, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZAL has a ferro chrome plant.

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