Weak market breadth

A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices declined in morning trade after hitting fresh intraday high in early trade. At 10:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 14.81 points or 0.04% at 36,125.17. The Nifty 50 index was down 9.95 points or 0.09% at 11,073.75.

The Sensex and the Nifty retracted in morning trade after hitting fresh intraday high in early trade. Both the indices, however, were trading well above their psychological levels. The Sensex was trading above 36,000 mark and the Nifty was trading above the 11,000 mark.

The Sensex rose 128.21 points, or 0.35% at the day's high of 36,268.19 in early trade, its record high level. The index fell 103.47 points, or 0.29% at the day's low of 36,036.51 in morning trade. The Nifty rose 26.40 points, or 0.24% at the day's high of 11,110.10 in early trade, its record high level. The index fell 37.55 points, or 0.34% at the day's low of 11,046.15 in morning trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.58%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.66%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The broad market depicted weakness. There were more than two losers against every gainer on BSE. 1,642 shares fell and 748 shares rose. A total of 97 shares were unchanged.

Metal shares fell across the board. Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.98%), Steel Authority of India (down 1.66%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.59%), NMDC (down 1.47%), Hindustan Copper (down 1.05%), National Aluminium Company (down 1.02%), Tata Steel (down 0.94%), Vedanta (down 0.86%), Bhushan Steel (down 0.55%), JSW Steel (down 0.48%) and Hindustan Zinc (down 0.34%), edged lower.

Meanwhile, copper price edged higher in the global commodities markets. High Grade Copper for March 2018 delivery was currently up 0.77% at $3.135 per pound on the COMEX.

Power generation stocks declined. Jaiprakash Power Ventures (down 2.27%), Torrent Power (down 1.74%), Adani Power (down 1.7%), CESC (down 1.48%), NHPC (down 1.32%), JSW Energy (down 1.16%), Reliance Power (down 1.03%), Tata Power (down 0.97%), Reliance Infrastructure (down 0.96%) and GMR Infrastructure (down 0.84%), edged lower. NTPC was up 0.03%.

State-run Coal India was down 0.56%. State-run Power Grid Corporation of India was down 0.26%.

Overseas, most Asian shares declined on profit booking after recent gains. US stocks closed mixed on Tuesday, with market focus shifting from politics to corporate earnings after a government shutdown came to an end on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.7%.

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