Weakness persisted on the bourses in afternoon trade as the key benchmark indices were trading lower led by HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Tata Motors. At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 102.80 points or 0.33% at 31,187.94. The Nifty 50 index was down 41.10 points or 0.43% at 9,588.90.
The Sensex fell 162.38 points, or 0.52% at the day's low of 31,128.36 in early afternoon trade, its lowest level since 16 June 2017. The index rose 74.65 points, or 0.24% at the day's high of 31,365.39 in early trade. The Nifty fell 64.70 points, or 0.67% at the day's low of 9,565.30 in early afternoon trade, its lowest level since 15 June 2017. The index rose 17.65 points, or 0.18% at the day's high of 9,647.65 in early trade.
Broader market tumbled. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.94%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.35%. The decline in both these indices was higher than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
The broad market depicted weakness. There were more than three losers against every gainer on BSE. 1,892 shares fell and 584 shares rose. A total of 125 shares were unchanged.
Auto stocks edged lower. Escorts (down 3.17%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.28%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.34%), TVS Motor Company (down 1.28%), Tata Motors (down 1.46%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.8%), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (down 0.77%), Eicher Motors (down 0.95%) and Ashok Leyland (down 0.21%) declined.
Telecom stocks fell. Bharti Airtel (down 0.07%), Idea Cellular (down 0.81%), MTNL (down 3.45%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 2.54%) declined. Reliance Communications (up 2.24%) rose.
Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 0.34%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
Quess Corp rose 1.06% after the company said it has signed the definitive agreements to acquire 46% equity in Heptagon Technologies. Quess Corp signed definitive agreements to acquire 46% equity in Heptagon Technologies on 21 June 2017. The transaction entails a cash consideration of Rs 9.77 crore.
Separately, Quess Corp announced that on 21 June 2017 Quesscorp Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company has entered into definitive agreement to acquire 51% shareholding in Comtel Pro, a private limited company incorporated under the laws of Singapore. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 22 June 2017.
Overseas, European stocks were trading lower as oil and gas and consumer goods shares declined. Investors on Friday will assess data for eurozone manufacturing and services activity in June. Also Friday, European Union leaders are gathering for their summit in Brussels, where Brexit is high on the agenda one year after the UK voted to leave the bloc.
Most Asian shares edged higher, on track for a weekly gain, as crude oil prices pulled away from this week's 10-month lows. China's Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.25% as increased regulatory scrutiny over the borrowings of China's most prolific overseas deal makers weighed on Chinese shares. The move, which sent shares of the companies' listed units tumbling late Thursday, hurt investor sentiment due to concerns about tighter regulations across China's financial markets at a time of volatile trading.
In US, stocks closed mostly lower as weak financials and consumer staples shares eclipsed a rally in the healthcare and biotechnology sectors. Health-care stocks were among the biggest gainers as lawmakers released a discussion draft of the health-care bill that aims to cut Medicaid and eliminate penalties for people who don't buy insurance, among other changes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 12.74 points to end at 21,397.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index bucked the trend for a second day to edge up 2.73 points to close at 6,236.69.
A report on weekly jobless claims showed that fewer than 250,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits in mid-June. Initial jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 241,000 in the seven days stretching from 11 June to 17 June 2017, Labor Department said.
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