The Sensex ended with small gains while the Nifty ended almost flat after a volatile trading session on Wednesday. Weakness in Infosys eclipsed strong gains in Reliance Industries. Gains were capped as investors continued to worry about the unabating spread of the coronavirus.
The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 62.45 points or 0.18% at 35,697.40. The index rose 386.56 points, or 1.08% to hit the day's high of 36,021.51 in afternoon trade.
The Nifty 50 index shed 2.55 points or 0.02% at 10,448.90. It jumped 93.65 points, or 0.90% to hit the day's high of 10,545.10 in afternoon trade.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.89% and the BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.36%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1048 shares rose and 1430 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged.
Numbers to Watch:
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.128% at 16:51 IST compared with 6.066% at close in the previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 73.61, compared with its close of 74.17 during the previous trading session.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2020 settlement was down 97 cents at $36.25 a barrel.
Brent crude slumped 24.10% to $34.36 on 9 March 2020. It recovered 8.32% to settle at $37.22 on Tuesday, 10 March 2020, on hopes that US producers would cut output after Saudi Arabia and Russia triggered a price war.
Foreign Markets:
European shares advanced after the Bank of England (BoE) surprised the market on Wednesday and slashed its benchmark interest rates by 50 bps to 0.25%. BoE also announced a new term-funding scheme to support small and medium-sized companies, as well as new steps to help commercial banks lend more. The announcement follows a similar decision by the US Federal Reserve last week.
Asian markets fell across the board on Wednesday as investors continue to track developments around government stimulus with the coronavirus continuing to spread.
Concerns surrounding the global coronavirus outbreak have sent markets on a roller-coaster ride in recent days. The disease has infected at least 113,851 and more than 4,000 people have died so far, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.
In US, stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday after a volatile session that restored about half of the losses seen Monday when stocks saw the biggest one day fall since the 2008 financial crisis.
Tuesday's rebound was partly fueled by a White House push to persuade Congress to agree to a fiscal stimulus package that may include a payroll tax cut to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Buzzing Indian Segments:
The Nifty IT index fell 1.25% to 14,669. The index has fallen 7.58% in three consecutive sessions.
Oracle Financial Services Software (down 2.73%), Hexaware Technologies (down 2.44%), Mphasis (down 1.89%), TCS (down 0.89%), HCL Technologies (down 0.72%), Persistent Systems (down 0.54%), Wipro (down 0.51%) and Mindtree (down 0.31%) declined.
IT major Infosys lost 2.66%. The IT major announced that it has joined the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program to offer end-to-end solutions for smart stadiums, smart venues and smart event management. This program is designed to connect cities, municipalities, government agencies, and enterprises with Qualcomm Technologies' ecosystem to help deliver greater efficiencies, cost savings, and broad access to solutions for smart cities' problems today.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries jumped 3.60% to Rs 1153.25 on bargain hunting. The stock slumped 17.15% in four consecutive sessions to Rs 1,113.15 on 9 March 2020, from a recent closing high of Rs 1,343.65 on 3 March 2020. The stock crashed after crude oil prices plunged in the past few sessions.
State-run ONGC slumped 4.02% to Rs 71.65. The stock has fallen 23.20% in five sessions from its recent closing high of Rs 93.30 recorded on 3 March 2020.
ONGC's board meeting to consider interim dividend was rescheduled on Monday, 16 March 2020. The record date is fixed on 24 March 2020 for payment of interim dividend, if any. The board meeting was initially scheduled on 4 March 2020. It was later rescheduled to 11 March 2020.
Asian Paints advanced 0.71%. The paint maker's promoters have released pledge on 1.39 crore shares, representing 1.45% shareholding in the company from 3-9 March 2020.
JSW Steel fell 2.40%. The company said its crude steel production was up 5% to 13.20 lakh tonnes in February 2020 from 12.57 lakh tonnes in February 2019. The production of flat rolled products rose 7% to 9.82 lakh tonnes in February 2020. Production of long rolled products remained muted at 3.08 lakh tonnes during the month.
HBL Power Systems surged 15.13%. The company has received order worth Rs 70 crore from South Central Railways for train collision avoidance systems. It also has received order valued Rs 85 crore for seven submarine propulsion batteries from Indian Navy. The company has received export orders worth $3.6 million for supply of lithium thermal batteries to be completed over the next 18 months.
Indian Hume Pipe Company rose 3.17% after the company received a letter of acceptance (LoA) for the work of Rs 357.53 crore from Madurai City Municipal Corporation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
ABB India shed 2.37%. The company informed that its board approved the sale of its solar inverter business on slump sale basis to Marici Solar India for value of Rs 100.6 crore. The company's board, on 9 July 2019, had granted in-principle approval for sale of company's solar inverter business to the Italian company, FIMER S.p.A. The board's stake sale decision is in line with ABB Group's strategy of ongoing systematic portfolio management to strengthen competitiveness, focus on quality of revenue and higher growth segments.
RBL Bank jumped 9.07% after the bank clarified that it is well capitalized, financial strong and boasts a healthy liquidity ratio. The bank said it has capital adequacy ratio of 16.08% with Tier-1 at 15.02% which is significantly higher than the prescribed regulatory requirement at 11.5% and 9.5% respectively. The bank also said there has been no material adverse change in the asset quality since Q3 December 2019 and the bank's growth guidance remains consistent.
Welspun Corp slipped 3.94%. The company announced that it has secured a major offshore pipes supply contract in Australia for the Barossa offshore Development project from Allseas Marine Contractors Australia PTY. The contract scope comprises manufacturing & supply of 270 km (87 KMT) pipes for critical offshore application.
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