Key indices were trading in narrow range with small gains in mid-morning trade. At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 70.06 points or 0.19% at 37,483.19. The Nifty 50 index was up 9.50 points or 0.08% at 11,297.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.54%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.80%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 812 shares rose and 1461 shares fell. A total of 113 shares were unchanged.
IT shares were in demand. Hexaware Technologies (up 1.94%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 1.26%), Infosys (up 0.86%), MindTree (up 0.75%), HCL Technologies (up 0.44%), TCS (up 0.39%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.29%) and Persistent Systems (up 0.14%), edged higher. MphasiS was down 0.54%.
IT major Wipro was up 1.24%. Wipro and Duck Creek Technologies, the P&C insurance industry's leading SaaS software provider, announced a relationship whereby Wipro will offer a broad array of implementation services and related software and data solutions for its insurance industry customers around the world. Wipro will offer systems integration, configuration, and support services for the Duck Creek Platform, which includes solutions for policy, rating, billing, claims, data insights, and digital engagement. Together, Wipro and Duck Creek will help insurers meet rapidly evolving consumer expectations in their digital transformation journey.
Wipro brings core insurance transformation to its customers through front-to-back digitalization and service design, and is fostering new ways of working by using agile and adaptive methodologies to break existing business silos. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 11 September 2018.
Pharmaceutical shares were mixed. IPCA Laboratories (up 1.13%), Divi's Laboratories (up 1.12%), Alkem Laboratories (up 1.05%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.51%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.43%) and Lupin (up 0.28%), edged higher. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.28%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.48%), Piramal Enterprises (down 0.69%), Wockhardt (down 0.98%), Strides Shasun (down 1.14%) and Aurobindo Pharma (down 1.7%), edged lower.
Drug major Cipla was down 0.07%. The company said it received approval for its HIV treatment combination medicine 'TLD' from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA). The drug will be manufactured at Cipla's facilities in Durban and Uganda. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 11 September 2018.
Drug major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was up 1.20%. With reference to the media report, "Sun Pharma's Mohali plant on FDA radar", the drug major clarified that the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) is conducting an inspection of the company's Mohali facility (Punjab, India). The inspection started yesterday, 10 September 2018 and is ongoing. The clarification was issued after market hours yesterday, 11 September 2018.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee extended losses against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 72.70, compared with its close of 72.695 during the previous trading session.
Overseas, Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, as investor confidence was chilled by the latest round of verbal threats in an intensifying US-China trade conflict. China will seek permission from the World Trade Organization (WTO) to impose sanctions on the US next week, according to the WTO's meeting agenda. China will seek authorization at a special meeting of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body on Friday, 21 September 2018.
The request comes at a time of escalating trade tensions between the world's two largest economies, with US President Donald Trump saying last week he was "ready to go" on tariffs for another $267 billion on Chinese goods "if he wants." That would follow planned charges on $200 billion of Chinese goods in several industries, including technology. Beijing has vowed to retaliate if the US takes any new steps on trade.
US stocks shrugged off a wobbly start to close higher Tuesday, with the Dow climbing by triple digits, as energy and telecommunications rallied. However, trade worries were simmering below the surface as investors continued to watch the situation between the US and China.
On the data front, small-business sentiment climbed to a record in August, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. Separately, the number of job openings in the US climbed to a record 6.94 million in July while the US budget deficit in August was $211 billion, nearly double the gap during the year-ago period.
Meanwhile, the US budget deficit in August was $211 billion, nearly double the gap during the year-ago month, the Congressional Budget Office estimated late Monday.
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