Shares hover in narrow range

Key equity indices were trading in a narrow range near flat line in mid-morning trade. At 11:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 10.07 points or 0.03% at 36,572.67. The Nifty 50 index was down 4.45 points or 0.04% at 10,907.80. The Nifty held above 10,900 mark.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.09%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.31%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 820 shares rose and 1257 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.

IT shares were mixed. MphasiS (up 2.08%), Persistent Systems (up 1.2%), HCL Technologies (up 0.88%), MindTree (up 0.56%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.46%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.34%), edged higher. Tech Mahindra (down 0.01%), TCS (down 0.45%), Infosys (down 0.66%) and Wipro (down 0.73%), edged lower.

Most pharmaceuticals shares declined. Strides Shasun (down 2.16%), Lupin (down 1.69%), IPCA Laboratories (down 1.2%), Wockhardt (down 1.1%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.91%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.82%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.57%), Cipla (down 0.43%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.09%), edged lower. Cadila Healthcare (up 0.08%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.34%), Divi's Laboratories (up 0.78%), Piramal Enterprises (up 1.65%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 2.34%), edged higher.

On the economic front, business activity growth in the Indian service sector cooled further at the start of 2019, amid the weakest upturn in new work since last September. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services Business Activity Index fell for the second straight month in January, from 53.2 in December to 52.2, indicating a softer expansion in output.

Meanwhile, fiscal deficit for the first nine months of the current fiscal, that is April-December, crossed 112.4% of the Budget Estimate (BE). Fiscal deficit for the first nine months is more than Rs 7.01 lakh crore as against the BE of Rs 6.24 lakh crore.

According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the revenue receipts of the government totalled Rs 10.84 lakh crore or 62.8% of BE in 2018-2019 till December, compared with 66.9% during the same period last year.

Tax revenue was 63.2% of BE, compared with 73.4% in the comparable period of the previous year. The total expenditure of the government at December-end was Rs 18.32 lakh crore or 75% of BE.

Overseas, most Asian markets remained closed for public holidays. US stocks closed higher Monday, as investors looked ahead to another week of high-profile earnings and developments in US-China trade talks.

US-China trade talks will remain in focus as a March 1 deadline to avoid an increase on tariffs on Chinese imports looms. On the US data front, US factory orders fell by 0.6% in November.

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