Market languishes in red

Key benchmark indices remained weak in early afternoon trade as weakness in Asian stocks weighed on sentiment. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex lost 283.58 points or 0.89% at 31,638.86. The Nifty 50 index fell 92.45 points or 0.93% at 9,871.95.

The Sensex gained 94.08 points or 0.29% at the day's high of 32,016.52 in early trade. The index slumped 349.12 points or 1.09% at the day's low of 31,573.32 in morning trade, its lowest level since 4 September 2017. The Nifty declined 3.90 points or 0.03% at the day's high of 9,960.50 in early trade. The index fell 128.20 points or 1.28% at the day's low of 9,836.20 in morning trade, its lowest level since 29 August 2017.

The market opened with small gains but soon slipped into the red in early trade tracking weak Asian stocks. Stocks extended losses in morning trade and languished in the red later during the session.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.43%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 2.09%. The losses in both the indices were higher than the Sensex's slide in percentage terms.

The market breadth depicted weakness. There were almost five losers for every gainer on the BSE. 1,980 shares fell and 408 shares rose. A total of 119 shares were unchanged.

Realty stocks declined for the fourth straight day. Sobha (down 0.15%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 5.7%), Unitech (down 3.7%), Phoenix Mills (down 3.79%), DLF (down 2.71%), and Omaxe (down 0.56%) edged lower.

Metal and mining stocks dropped for the fifth straight day. Bhushan Steel (down 1,88%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 3.27%), Vedanta (down 1.98%), Tata Steel (down 3.12%), NMDC (down 2.43%), Steel Authority of India (down 2.33%), JSW Steel (down 5.53%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.44%) and National Aluminium Company (down 2.43%) edged lower.

Hindalco Industries lost 2.08%. Non convertible debentures (NCDs) of the company have been upgraded one notch recently both by Crisil (from AA- to AA with stable outlook) and by CARE (from AA to AA+ with stable outlook). The announcement was made during market hours today, 25 September 2017.

Coffee Day Enterprises slumped 9.49% after income tax department raided the company and its subsidiaries. According to media reports, the Income Tax department (IT dept) raided Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) retail chain since Thursday, 21 September 2017, and found Rs 650 crore concealed income from the documents seized.

Coffee Day Enterprises runs coffee chain under the brand name Cafe Coffee Day.

Documents seized from the search operations at 25 places of Cafe Coffee Day and its group companies in Karnataka, Mumbai and Chennai revealed concealed income of over Rs 650 crore, reports added.

Coffee Day Enterprises clarified during trading hours today, 25 September 2017, that search and survey operations were carried out by the income tax authorities on the company and its subsidiaries starting 21 September 2017 and ending on 24 September 2017.

The company said it extended full co-operation to the income tax authorities. It added that there is no information discovered which would have a significant impact on the financial position of Coffee Day Enterprises and its subsidiaries. Any information which is considered to have material impact in nature discovered later will be intimated to the exchange immediately, the company said.

Overseas, Asian stocks dropped as investors digested elections in Germany and New Zealand over the weekend. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative alliance won the German election, but a steep drop in its support and an anti-immigrant party's surge signaled political turbulence ahead for Europe's largest economy. Her center-right bloc's victory on Sunday, projected at about 33% to 21%, over the center-left Social Democrats means that Merkel is virtually assured of a fourth term as chancellor.

Elsewhere, the New Zealand election saw Prime Minister Bill English's National Party win the most votes, although it came short of securing a majority in parliament.

Japanese index edged higher as Japanese manufacturing activity expanded in September at the fastest pace in four months. The Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 52.6 in September from a final 52.2 in August. Separately, Japan's government maintained its moderately optimistic view on the economy, signaling that a recovery is broadening and gathering strength even as inflation remains anemic.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered his cabinet to compile new economic stimulus measures in a package worth around 2 trillion yen ($17.80 billion) by the end of the year.

US stocks bounced late in the session, paring early losses and ending little changed on Friday, 22 September 2017, as investors shook off the latest bellicosities between North Korean and US leaders. In the latest economic data, a read on manufacturing inched higher in September, while a read on the services sector was down slightly.

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