The market extended losses for fourth session in a row dragged by weakness in IT and pharma stocks. Weak global stocks dampened sentiment on the domestic bourses. The Sensex settled below the psychological 34,000 level after gyrating above and below that level in intraday trade.
The Sensex fell 287.15 points or 0.84% to settle at 33,847.23. The index fell 60.46 points, or 0.18% at the day's high of 34,073.92. The index fell 391.63 points, or 1.15% at the day's low of 33,742.75.
The Nifty 50 index fell 98.45 points or 0.96% to settle at 10,146.80. The index rose 23.15 points, or 0.23% at the day's high of 10,222.10. The index fell 142.90 points, or 1.39% at the day's low of 10,102.35.
Trading kicked off on a weak note as the key benchmark indices edged lower in early trade on negative Asian stocks. Domestic bourses cut losses in morning trade. Key indices extended losses in mid-morning trade. Stocks gyrated in a small range in early and afternoon trade. A sell-off in index pivotals pulled the key benchmark indices to fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade. Stocks cut losses in late trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.89%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.21%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
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The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 798 shares rose and 1790 shares fell. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.
Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE Realty index (up 0.41%), the S&P BSE Power index (up 0.10%), the S&P BSE Finance index (down 0.01%), the S&P BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.12%), the S&P BSE Utilities index (down 0.13%), the S&P BSE Telecom index (down 0.15%), the S&P BSE Bankex (down 0.28%), the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.33%), the S&P BSE Energy index (down 0.63%), the S&P BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.69%), the S&P BSE Metal index (down 0.69%), the S&P BSE Auto index (down 0.73%) and the S&P BSE Industrials index (down 0.8%), outperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE FMCG index (down 1.18%), the S&P BSE Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services index (down 1.23%), the S&P BSE Basic Materials index (down 1.74%), the S&P BSE Healthcare index (down 2.34%), the S&P BSE Teck index (down 2.48%) and the S&P BSE IT index (down 2.79%), underperformed the Sensex.
IT stocks declined. Hexaware Technologies (down 5.01%), Wipro (down 3.93%), Infosys (down 3.01%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 2.43%), Persistent Systems (down 1.5%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.23%) and MphasiS (down 0.85%), edged lower. MindTree rose 0.7%.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) lost 3.05%. TCS during market hours today, 23 October 2018 announced that two of its TCS BaNCS customers in Africa: Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Pic., the Central Securities Depository (CSD) of Nigeria, and South Africa based Standard Bank, a leading custodian, have successfully completed a pilot using the Quartz Blockchain technology for cross-border corporate action information exchange using the BaNCS Network, potentially seeding an innovative panAfrican financial ecosystem for cross-border information exchange and transaction settlement.
HCL Technologies lost 2.79% ahead of its September quarterly result today, 23 October 2018.
Most pharmaceutical shares declined. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 5.07%), Lupin (down 3.49%), Strides Shasun (down 3.37%), Divi's Laboratories (down 3.23%), Wockhardt (down 2.8%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 2.77%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 2.35%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 1.68%), Cipla (down 0.68%) and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.1%), edged lower. Alkem Laboratories (up 0.57%), IPCA Laboratories (up 0.64%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.68%) and Piramal Enterprises (up 0.93%), edged higher.
Asian Paints lost 5.21%. On a consolidated basis, Asian Paints' net profit fell 14.77% to Rs 506 crore on 8.76% increase in net sales to Rs 4639.05 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 22 October 2018.
K.B.S. Anand, managing director & CEO, Asian Paints said that the decorative business segment in India registered a low double digit volume growth. Raw material prices continued to move up further which led the company to take a price increase from October 2018. The automotive coatings JV (PPG-AP), witnessed good growth in the general industrial business segment, while the industrial coatings JV (AP-PPG) continued to witness good growth in the protective coatings - dealer segment and the powder segment.
In the international operations, business conditions continued to remain challenging with issues like forex unavailability, high inflation and difficult economic conditions impacting performance. Both the segments in the home improvement category viz. the kitchen (Sleek) and bath (ESS ESS) business, performed well in the quarter, he added.
Bharti Airtel fell 0.03%. Bharti Airtel after market hours yesterday, 22 October 2018, said that the company has collaborated with Google to truly simplify its customer service experience by integrating its customer care with the Artificial Intelligence-powered Google Assistant. Airtel smartphone customers will now able to get instant resolution to their frequent account related queries through the Google Assistant.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 73.53, compared with its close of 73.56 during the previous trading session.
In the global commodities markets, Brent for December 2018 settlement was down $1.27 at $78.56 a barrel. The contract had risen 5 cents, or 0.06% to settle at $79.83 a barrel during the previous trading session.
Overseas, European and Asian stocks declined as diplomatic tensions in Saudi Arabia, concerns over Italy's Budget and ongoing Brexit talks all depressed market sentiment.
US stocks closed mostly lower yesterday, 22 October 2018, with the S&P 500 dropping for a fourth day in a row, as investors braced for a deluge of earnings against the backdrop of higher interest rates and concerns about global growth.
Risks still abound across global markets, from the continuing US-China trade showdown to Italian budget fears and President Donald Trump's unpredictable actions ahead of American midterm elections.
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