Weakness persisted on the bourses in mid-afternoon trade as Asian and European stocks dropped and as trading in US index futures indicated a lower opening of US stocks later in the global day. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 239.37 points or 1.15%, off 296.72 points from the day's high and up 34.85 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative.
Cement stocks dropped another cement major ACC reported weak quarterly results. Hindustan Unilever rose in highly volatile trade. Exide Industries declined after reporting weak Q2 results.
Key benchmark indices trimmed initial gains triggered by expectations that lackluster US September jobs report will lead to the Federal Reserve maintaining stimulus for the US economy in the foreseeable future. A bout of volatility was witnessed as the key benchmark indices trimmed losses after reversing initial gains in morning trade. Key benchmark indices hovered in negative zone in mid-morning trade. Key benchmark indices extended intraday losses and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. The market further extended intraday losses and hit fresh intraday low in afternoon trade as European shares opened broadly lower. Weakness persisted on the bourses in mid-afternoon trade.
At 14:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 239.37 points or 1.15% to 20,625.60. The index lost 275.25 points at the day's low of 20,589.72 in afternoon trade, its lowest level since 18 October 2013. The index gained 57.35 points at the day's high of 20,922.32 in early trade.
The CNX Nifty was down 73.65 points or 1.19% to 6,129.15. The index hit a low of 6,116.60 in intraday trade, its lowest level since 18 October 2013. The index hit a high of 6,217.95 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,332 shares declined and 1,013 shares rose. A total of 150 shares were unchanged.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 1528 crore by 14:20 IST.
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Wipro (down 4.2%), NTPC (down 3.2%) and Bajaj Auto (down 2.99%) declined.
Shares of cement major ACC dropped in choppy trade after the company reported poor Q3 results during trading hours today, 23 October 2013. The stock was off 2.13% at Rs 1,112. The scrip hit high of Rs 1,130.50 and low of Rs 1,100 so far during the day. ACC's consolidated net profit plunged 50.85% to Rs 118.90 crore on 1.32% drop in sales turnover at Rs 2508.65 crore in Q3 September 2013 over Q3 September 2012. Operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization) dropped 38.51% to Rs 286.56 crore in Q3 September 2013 over Q3 September 2012.
The company attributed reduced profitability during the quarter to sluggish market conditions and lower realizations.
ACC said that the macro-environment continued to be dull and characterized by slow industrial and agricultural growth, rising prices and volatile foreign exchange rates. There were increases in the prices of diesel, coal and railway freight which could be countered partly through the company's ongoing initiatives to achieve improvements in operations, sales and logistics. Work on the company's ongoing Jamul expansion project is progressing well with all the main structures now above ground. Work has also commenced at the Sindri site and is moving ahead on schedule, ACC said in a statement. While the extended monsoon is expected to have a favourable impact on the agricultural sector in coming months, the management anticipates a gradual but slow improvement in demand for cement and in the overall economy which may need some more time to recover.
Ambuja Cements fell 1.71% ahead of its quarterly earnings today, 23 October 2013.
UltraTech Cement was down 1.98%. The company had reported weak Q2 results on 19 October 2013.
Hindustan Unilever rose in highly volatile trade. The stock was up 0.83% at Rs 613.90. The scrip jumped as much as 5.72% at the day's high of Rs 643.70 so far during the day. The stock fell as much as 1.44% at the day's low of Rs 600.10 so far during the day. The stock saw high volume of 6.17 lakh shares as compared with average volume of 2.03 lakh shares in the past one quarter.
Exide Industries declined 2.09% on weak Q2 results. Net profit fell 1.3% to Rs 118.63 crore on 6.96% decline in total income to Rs 1435.74 crore in Q2 September 2013 over Q2 September 2012. The result was announced during trading hours today, 23 October 2013.
Commenting on the performance, MD & CEO, Mr. P K Kataky said: "The depreciation of the Indian rupee and continued sluggish demand had its impact on the performance of the company in the second quarter. The demand for both automobile (especially OEM) and industrial batteries (including infrastructure, telecom and inverter) remained subdued. To improve its performance, the company has undertaken various cost control and technological upgradation initiatives. This will enable the company to succeed in its marketing efforts in a highly competitive market".
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar in choppy trade. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 61.54, compared with its close of 61.655/665 on Tuesday, 22 October 2013. The rupee had surged to a high 61.05 in early trade after soft US jobs data led to hopes that the Federal Reserve would not start tapering monetary stimulus until 2014.
European stocks dropped on Wednesday, 23 October 2013, as investors digested more quarterly earnings and new ECB stress tests on euro-zone banks. Key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK were off 0.46% to 0.72%.
The European Central Bank in November will begin a thorough review of the balance sheets of 130 financial institutions from Latvia to Germany, opening a year-long process aimed at removing doubts about the strength of European banks and restoring credit to the private sector. As part of the asset-review exercise, and subsequent stress tests of bank balance sheets, the ECB said Wednesday it will ask all banks included in the assessment to set aside 8% of their risk-adjusted capital as a buffer against losses on loans and other parts of their balance sheets. The central bank, which assumes a new role as single supervisor of euro-zone banks at the end of next year, said the asset review will include on-balance sheet and off-balance sheet exposures such as credit derivatives. The ECB will examine the banking and trading books of financial institutions. The euro bloc consists of 17 countries and will rise to 18 in January when Latvia adopts the euro.
Asian markets on Wednesday, 23 October 2013, reversed their initial gains triggered by expectations that lackluster US September jobs report will lead to the Federal Reserve maintaining stimulus for the US economy in the foreseeable future. Key benchmark indices in Japan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan fell by 0.23% to 1.95%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite rose 1.05%.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 63 points at the opening bell on Wednesday, 23 October 2013. US stocks gained on Tuesday, 22 October 2013, further propelling the S&P 500's record rise, as the September nonfarm-payrolls report supported the notion that the Federal Reserve's monthly bond purchases would continue into next year.
The US created a modest 148,000 jobs in September but the number of people hired in August was higher than previously reported, indicating an economy on a zigzag course heading into the government shutdown. The nation's unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell a tick to a five-year low of 7.2%, as more people found work, according to figures released Tuesday by the Labor Department.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds a two-day policy meeting on 29-30 October 2013. On 18 September 2013, the Fed surprised economists and investors with its decision to delay scaling back its stimulus amid concerns about the strength of the economic recovery.
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