Market trims gains

After hitting fresh intraday high in early afternoon trade, the key benchmark indices trimmed gains in afternoon trade. At 13:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 101.64 points or 0.28% at 36,452.87. The Nifty 50 index was up 37.50 points or 0.34% at 10,994.60.

On the political front, the Lok Sabha debated on Friday a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government moved by the opposition. The government has said it is confident of its numbers and that it was looking forward to a debate in which it can showcase its achievements during the first no-trust vote on the floor of Parliament in 15 years. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), an estranged ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, moved the no-confidence motion on Wednesday, which was admitted by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. TDP's major concern is to get a special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Media reports suggested that Shiv Sena MPs will not attend Parliament today, thus abstaining from voting during the no-confidence motion. Meanwhile, Bihar chief minister and alliance partner Nitish Kumar reportedly said Janata Dal (United) is with the Modi government.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.45%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.03%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 995 shares rose and 1349 shares fell. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

Infosys (up 2.62%), ICICI Bank (up 1.78%), RIL (up 1.76%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.54%) and IndusInd Bank (up 0.95%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Vedanta (down 2.86%), ONGC (down 2.79%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 2.26%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Bajaj Auto slumped 5.71%. Consolidated profit after tax rose 24.4% to Rs 1041.77 crore on 25.11% rise in total income to Rs 7729.34 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q1 June 2017. As on 30 June 2018, surplus cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs 16889 crore as against Rs 15542 crore as on 31 March 2018. The result was announced during market hours today, 20 July 2018.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) gained 1.62%. The company announced during trading hours today, 20 July 2018, that the heavy engineering arm of the company has won orders worth Rs 1600 crore to supply critical reactors and heavy equipment to refining, petrochemical and liquified natural gas (LNG) industries. These prestigious orders were received in the current financial year.

Sagar Cements lost 4.56% after consolidated net profit dropped 41.62% to Rs 5.82 crore on 5.52% rise in total income to Rs 275.44 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q1 June 2017. Sreekanth Reddy, Executive Director, Sagar Cements said that going forward, demand situation is expected to remain steady on the back of government's focus on developing infrastructure and affordable housing segment. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 19 July 2018.

Jain Irrigation Systems rose 1.82% after the company said it has received letter of intent from Government of Madhya Pradesh to execute the Mohanpura project. The value of the project is Rs 975 crore and the project is to be completed in 36 months. The announcement was made before trading hours today, 20 July 2018.

Overseas, European stocks slipped as autos and banks stocks gave up their gains amid rising trade tensions which caused a selloff in the Chinese yuan and US stock markets overnight. Most Asian shares were trading higher. US stocks slipped on Thursday as earnings season rolled on, with investors digesting comments from Trump on the Fed.

Trump told the media on Thursday that he was not "thrilled" that the Federal Reserve was hiking interest rates. Worries about a potential trade war also weighted on investor sentiment after Trump threatened "tremendous retribution" against the European Union on Wednesday, specifically mentioning auto tariffs, if his meeting with EU officials next week does not yield what he considers a fair auto trade deal.

On the US data front, initial jobless claims fell by 8,000 last week. Separately, the Philly Fed manufacturing index rose 6 points to a reading of 25.7 in July.

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