Sensex, Nifty turn rangebound

Key benchmark indices reversed losses and traded marginally higher in mid-morning trade. The Nifty managed to hold the crucial 11900 mark. At 11:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 35.47 points or 0.09% at 39,851.17.95. The Nifty 50 index was up 7.35 points or 0.06% at 11,917.75.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.08%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.26%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1100 shares rose and 839 shares fell. A total of 127 shares were unchanged.

On the macro front, economic conditions in the service sector weakened, as broadly stagnant sales caused the first drop in business activity in over a year. The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index was at 49.6 in June, down from 50.2 in May. The index contracted for the first time since May 2018. A reading above 50 indicating an overall increase compared to the previous month, and below 50 an overall decrease. According to the survey, weak sales, competitive pressures and unfavourable taxation all hampered output

On the equity front, HDFC Bank was up 0.14% at Rs 2,498.55. It hit a 52-week high of Rs 2,503.3 in intraday today.

State Bank of India was down 0.07% at Rs 364.25. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 366 in intraday today.

SRF was up 0.04% at Rs 3,067.65. It hit a 52-week high of Rs 3,086 in intraday today.

Most pharma stocks declined. Aurobindo Pharma (down 3.09%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 1.42%), Lupin (down 0.96%), Cipla (down 0.93%), Cadila Healthcare (down 0.59%), Alkem Laboratories (down 0.55%), IPCA Laboratories (down 0.28%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.28%), Divi's Laboratories (down 0.18%) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (down 0.11%) declined. Piramal Enterprises (up 1.78%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.53%) and Wockhardt (up 0.46%) edged higher.

Shares of most IT companies were trading lower. Hexaware Technologies (down 0.7%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.49%), Wipro (down 0.46%), Persistent Systems (down 0.26%), TCS (down 0.23%) and MindTree (down 0.19%) declined. Mphasis (up 0.9%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.7%) and Infosys (up 0.11%) gained.

The S&P BSE IT index was down 15.89 points or 0.1% at 15,769.77.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 68.9025, compared with its close of 68.9525 during the previous trading session.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading lower on Wednesday as global trade concerns weighed on investor sentiment.

US stocks managed modest gains on Tuesday as enthusiasm over the US-China trade truce faded after the United States threatened tariffs on additional European goods.

Meanwhile US President Donald Trump's administration on Monday threatened to impose tariffs on $4 billion of additional European Union goods in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies. The new wave of proposed duties comes amid a 15-year dispute at the World Trade Organization over aircraft subsidies given to U.S. aerospace manufacturer Boeing and its European rival, Airbus.

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