Negative market breadth

Key benchmark indices hit fresh intraday low in morning trade. At 10:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 160.83 points or 0.55% at 29,260.57. The Nifty 50 index was currently down 48.10 points or 0.53% at 9,059.90. Weakness in other Asian indices put pressure on domestic shares.

The Sensex fell 164.88 points, or 0.56% at the day's low of 29,256.52 in morning trade, its lowest level since 23 March 2017. The index fell 0.70 points at the day's high of 29,420.70 in early trade. The Nifty fell 56.40 points, or 0.62% at the day's low of 9,051.60 in morning trade, its lowest level since 23 March 2017. The index fell 13.15 points, or 0.14% at the day's high of 9,094.85 in early trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was currently down 0.19%. The decline in this index was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.01%, outperforming the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On BSE, 1066 shares fell and 1048 shares rose. A total of 140 shares were unchanged.

Engineering and construction major L&T was down 0.34% at Rs 1,546. The water & effluent treatment business segment of the construction arm of L&T has won an order worth Rs 705 crore. The project will be executed by L&T in a joint venture with Shriram EPC.This engineering, procurement and construction order has been secured from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation of the United Republic of Tanzania for the extension of the water transmission pipeline from the Lake Victoria Water Supply scheme to Tabora, Nzega and Igunga Towns, Package II. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 27 March 2017.

IT shares were mixed. Wipro (down 0.68%), TCS (down 0.32%), HCL Technologies (down 0.3%), Infosys (down 0.21%), Persistent Systems (down 0.06%) and Hexaware Technologies (down 0.02%), edged lower. MindTree (up 0.09%), MphasiS (up 0.12%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.31%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.88%), edged higher.

Most pharmaceutical shares edged lower. Aurobindo Pharma (down 1.65%), Strides Shasun (down 1.38%), Lupin (down 0.57%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.54%), Alkem Laboratories (down 0.44%), Cipla (down 0.2%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.19%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.16%) and Piramal Enterprises (down 0.12%), edged lower. Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.26%), IPCA Laboratories (up 0.39%), Wockhardt (up 0.59%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.80%) and Divi's Laboratories (up 1.85%), edged higher.

On the economic front, the government is likely to table supplementary goods and services tax (GST) legislations in Parliament today, 27 March 2017. Central GST (C-GST), integrated GST (I-GST), Union Territory GST (UT-GST) and the compensation law are likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha today, 27 March 2017, and could be taken up for discussion as early as 28 March 2017, media reports suggested.

Overseas, Asian stocks edged lower after US President Donald Trump suffered a legislative defeat on Friday, 24 March 2017, when Republican leaders pulled a bill to overhaul the US health care system with the dollar weaker and gold prices up.

US stocks ended lower on Friday, 24 March 2017, as House Republicans withdrew the American Health Care Act after determining that they did not have enough votes to pass the bill. The withdrawal is a major setback for President Donald Trump who had made the repeal and the replacement of the existing Affordable Care Act one of his main campaign pledges.

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