Weakness on the bourses continued in the early afternoon trade with the two key benchmark indices trading with modest losses. At 12:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 102.47 points or 0.31% at 33,212.09. The Nifty 50 index fell 48.45 points or 0.47% at 10,273.30.
Key indices started the session with small gains amid initial volatility. Later, market sentiment remained lackluster as indices languished in negative zone so far amid weakness in Asian markets and lower closing on the Wall Street on Friday.
The Sensex lost 155.55 points or 0.46% at the day's low of 33,159.01 in mid morning trade. The index rose 102.74 points or 0.3% at the day's high of 33,417.30 in early trade, its highest level since 9 November 2017. The Nifty lost 63.50 points or 0.61% at the day's low of 10,258.25 in mid morning trade. The index rose 12.40 points or 0.12% at the day's high of 10,334.15 in early trade.
Among secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.12%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.07%. Both the indices outperformed the Sensex.
Overseas, most Asian stocks edged lower tracking weaker finish on the Wall Street. US stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, 10 November 2017, as they snapped multi-week winning streaks while some of the largest tech stocks pulled back.
Closer home, the breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,355 shares dropped and 1,141 shares rose. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.
More From This Section
Auto stocks nudged lower. Ashok Leyland (down 1.92%), Hero MotoCorp (down 0.45%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.28%), Tata Motors (down 0.21%) and Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.12%) declined. Eicher Motors (up 0.48%) gained.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) advanced 2% at Rs 1,421.20 after the company said that it has fixed 23 December 2017 as the record date issue of bonus shares. The announcement was made on Saturday, 11 November 2017. It may be recalled that board of directors of M&M at its meeting held on 10 November 2017 had recommended issue of bonus shares in the proportion of 1:1, i.e. one bonus share for every one share held as on record date.
Capital goods stocks also declined. BEML (down 2.5%), Bhel (down 1.95%), Bharat Electronics (down 1.18%), Siemens (down 0.87%) and ABB India (down 0.21%) edged lower. Havells India (up 2.18%) and Thermax (up 0.33%) gained.
L&T was down 2.45% at Rs 1,233.05. The company's consolidated net profit rose 31.9% to Rs 2020.30 crore on 6.4% growth in net sales to Rs 26446.76 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016. Consolidated order book of the group stood at Rs 257526 crore as at 30 September 2017, higher by 2% on a y-o-y basis with international order book constituting 26% of the total order book. The result was announced on Saturday, 11 November 2017.
In its outlook, L&T said that the government's determined efforts to revive the investment sentiment while undertaking impactful economic reforms have expectedly caused transition challenges. While the potential for investment in growth remains compelling, the readjustment to the continuing impact of currency purge and the accelerated implementation of GST has upset business environment and tripped growth in an economy already beset with twin challenges of attracting investments and adhering to fiscal rectitude, L&T said.
The company expects that the various reforms and economic measures over the past year would take some more time to stoke growth. Focus for the company continues to remain on improvement of return on equity through reduction of working capital and higher operational efficiencies, L&T added.
Meanwhile, L&T during market hours today, 13 November 2017 said that its wholly owned subsidiary L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), has bagged an offshore contract valued at approximately Rs 1267 crore from ONGC, for the balance work for pipeline replacement project-4.
Shares of The New India Assurance Company were trading at Rs 735.40 at on BSE, a discount of 8.07% from the issue price of Rs 800 on its debut on the bourses today, 13 November 2017. The shares listed on the bourses at Rs 748.90. The stock had hit a high of Rs 749 and low of Rs 717.75 so far during the day.
National Fertilizers rose 1.86% at Rs 62.95 after net profit surged 46.09% to Rs 66.72 crore on 12.23% rise in total income to Rs 2142.32 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 10 November 2017.
On the macro front, data released by the government after market hours on Friday, 10 November 2017 showed that India's index of industrial production (IIP) rose 3.8% in September 2017 over September 2016. The IIP growth in August 2017 was at 4.5%.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, at its meeting held on Friday, 10 November 2017 at Guwahati, announced rationalization of the tax structure. With regard to recommendations on the composition scheme, a uniform rate of tax of 1% under composition scheme is recommended for manufacturers and traders (for traders, turnover will be counted only for supply of taxable goods). No change for composition scheme for restaurants. Annual turnover eligibility for composition scheme will be increased to Rs 2 crore from the present limit of Rs 1 crore under the law. Thereafter, eligibility for composition will be increased to Rs 1.5 crore per annum.
The Council has recommended major relief in GST rates on certain goods and services. These recommendations spread across many sectors and across commodities. As per these recommendations, the list of 28% GST rated goods is recommended to be pruned substantially, from 224 tariff headings to only 50 tariff headings including 4 headings which have been partially reduced to 18%.
Further, the Council has recommended changes in GST rates on a number of goods, so as to rationalise the rate structure with a view to minimise classification disputes.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News