Market seeing high volatility

High volatility continued in mid-morning trade as the key equity benchmarks cut losses after seeing sudden slide in morning trade. At 11:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 153.70 points or 0.48% at 32,119.97. The Nifty index was down 54.80 points or 0.54% at 10,002.60. The Sensex regained the psychological 32,000 level in mid-morning trade after sliding below that level in morning trade. The Nifty also regained the psychological 10,000 level in mid-morning trade after falling below that level in morning trade.

Key benchmark indices were trading with modest gains in early trade led by gains turnaround Q1 results by steel giant Tata Steel and select auto stocks. A sudden sell-off gripped bourses in morning trade led by slide in index heavyweights ITC, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was off 0.52%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was off 0.66%. The fall in both these indices was higher than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.

The broad market depicted weakness. There were almost three losers against every gainer on BSE. 1,700 shares declined and 578 shares rose. A total of 90 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks took a breather as disappointing Chinese trade data clouded the otherwise upbeat outlook on global growth. China's export growth slowed to 7.2% in July from a year earlier, the weakest pace since February and cooling from an 11.3% rise in June, official data showed on Tuesday. Imports rose 11%, the slowest growth since December and down from a 17.2% rise in the previous month. That left the country with a trade surplus of $46.74 billion for the month, the highest since January, above June's $42.77 billion.

US stocks closed higher yesterday, 7 August 2017 with the S&P 500 ending at a record and the Dow extending its streak of such closing highs to nine with consumer staples and technology shares leading on the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.61 points, or 0.1%, to a new closing record of 22,118.42. The S&P 500 rose 4.08 points to 2,480.9, a rise of 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 32.21 points, or 0.5%, to 6,383.77.

US Fed speaker St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the level of short-term interest rates was fine, and that the current level of the policy rate is likely to remain appropriate over the near term.

Back home, oil & gas stocks declined. Shares of oil exploration and production (E&P) companies edged lower. Reliance Industries (down 0.69%), ONGC (down 1.11%) and Oil India (down 1.34%) edged lower. Among PSU OMCs, HPCL (down 2.97%), BPCL (down 1.91%), and Indian Oil Corporation (down 2.5%) fell.

Cement stocks fell. Ambuja Cements (down 1%), ACC (down 0.11%), UltraTech Cement (down 0.25%) and Shree Cement (down 1.24%) declined.

Grasim Industries was off 0.36%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Nilkamal fell 2.03% after net profit fell 29.4% to Rs 22.37 crore on 5.8% growth in net sales to Rs 487.59 crore in Q1 June 2017 over Q1 June 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 7 August 2017.

During Q1 June 2017, Nilkamal achieved growth in its net sales, however the net profit was affected on account of additional spends towards the ongoing advertisement for brand reinforcement, rise in routine expenditure and other one-off, non-recurring operational expenses. Further, June 2017 also saw an impact on the sales volume of the company due to the goods and services tax (GST) being rolled-out with effect from July 2017.

Goodricke Group jumped 6.86% after net profit spurted 54.6% to Rs 22.24 crore on 23.9% increase in net sales to Rs 152.16 crore in Q1 June 2017 over Q1 June 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 7 August 2017.

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