Metal and mining stocks decline

Stocks continued to hover near the flat line in early afternoon trade. At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 16 points or 0.04% at 38,328.52. The Nifty 50 index was down 5.80 points or 0.05% at 11,576.55. Metal and mining stocks declined.

A bout of volatility was seen in early trade as the key benchmark indices reversed initial gains to sink in red on negative Asian stocks. Key benchmark indices were off day's low in morning trade. A divergent trend was witnessed in mid-morning trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.21%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.63%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 954 shares rose and 1555 shares fell. A total of 122 shares were unchanged.

Metal and mining stocks declined. Jindal Steel & Power (down 3.47%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.32%), Vedanta (down 1.27%), JSW Steel (down 0.15%), Tata Steel (down 0.45%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (down 2.76%), National Aluminium Company (down 1.66%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.75%) and Hindustan Copper (down 1.67%) edged lower. NMDC (up 0.31%) rose.

Lupin fell 0.98%. Lupin during market hours today, 4 September 2018 announced the completion of a cGMP inspection carried out by the US FDA at its Tarapur facility. The inspection closed with one observation, a procedural deficiency. The inspection at the site was conducted between 27 and 31 August 2018 by three FDA investigators.

The inspection focused on cGMP compliance and also on the safety of Lupin's Valsartan, Losartan and Irbesartan APIs (commonly known as 'Sartans') in light of the safety alert issued by Regulatory Authorities on the NDMA (classified as a probable human carcinogen) impurity in Valsartan API supplied by some companies. During the inspection, the US FDA concluded that the manufacturing processes of Lupin 'Sartans' are safe with no chance of presence of the NDMA impurity in the APIs.

Overseas, most Asian stocks fell amid continuing concerns about stability in emerging markets and prospects for escalating US-China trade tensions. US markets were closed yesterday, 3 September 2018 for the Labor Day holiday.

Reportedly, US and Canadian officials are still due to resume talks Wednesday on a revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal, after they failed to reach an agreement last week. Mexico and the US have already struck a deal.

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