Key benchmark indices were trading near day's low in early afternoon trade. At 12:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 152.17 points or 0.40% at 37,429.74. The Nifty 50 index was down 29.85 points or 0.27% at 11,079.80.
Global cues were negative. Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow Jones Industrial Average could fall 23.5 points at the opening bell today, 13 August 2019.
Asian stocks were in the red as fears about a drawn out Sino-US trade war, protests in Hong Kong and a crash in Argentina's peso currency drove investors to safe harbours like bonds, gold, and the yen.
A foreign brokerage reportedly said that fears of the US-China trade war leading to a recession are increasing and it no longer expects a trade deal between the world's two largest economies before the 2020 US presidential election.
In the domestic market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.12%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.40%.
The market breadth was tilted in favour of sellers. On the BSE, 918 shares rose and 1281 shares fell. A total of 117 shares were unchanged.
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On derivatives front, the NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 4.32% at 16.5300.
On the options front, Nifty option chain for 29 August 2019 expiry showed a maximum call open interest (OI) of 23.92 lakh contracts at the 11500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 33.78 lakh contracts was seen at 11000 strike price.
According to the data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, passenger vehicle sales declined 31% to 2 lakh units in July 2019 over July 2018. Following the news, most auto shares declined. The sector barometer, S&P BSE Auto index tumbled 2.20%.
Tata Motors, however, was up 0.61%. The company announced that based on S&P Global Ratings, the credit rating of the company and that of its wholly owned subsidiary, Jaguar land Ratings Issuer Credit B+/ Neg/-- B+/ Neg/-- Rover Rating Automotive Plc, has been reaffirmed. It added that the rating is removed from credit watch and the outlook is kept as negative. The announcement was made after trading hours on Friday, 9 August 2019.
In a separate announcement on Friday, the company said Jaguar Land Rover retail sales in July 2019 were 37,945 units, up 5% compared to July 2018.
The increase was led by recovery in the China market where retail sales grew 40.3% year on year as the company's local turnaround plan began to take effect. Retail sales growth was also strong in the UK (8.8%) and up in North America (2.1%), broadly flat in Europe (0.3%) and down 20.1% in overseas markets.
Jaguar retail sales in July 2019 were 11,386 vehicles, up 3.6% year-on-year and Land Rover retailed 26,559 vehicles, up 5.6% compared to July 2019.
JSW Steel lost 0.39%. The steel maker said crude steel production fell 4% to 13.17 lakh tonnes in July 2019 over July 2018.
Most metal shares declined. Tata Steel (down 2.35%), National Aluminium Company (down 2.05%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.96%), Vedanta (down 1.87%) and Hindustan Zinc (down 1.51%) declined. Hindalco Industries (up 0.68%) and NMDC (up 0.49%) advanced.
Steel Authority of India fell 5.67%. The steel company reported 81.4% drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 102.68 crore on 6.11% fall in total income to Rs 15043.53 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 9 August 2019.
Hindustan Copper fell 4.11%. The company's consolidated net profit fell 39.9% to Rs 21.19 crore on a 27.2% decline in net sales to Rs 304.07 crore in Q1 June 2019 compared with Q1 June 2018.
NIIT rose 0.26%. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 510.3% to Rs 115.17 crore on a 1.8% decline in net sales to Rs 210.30 crore in Q1 June 2019 compared with Q1 June 2018. EBITDA rose 16% to Rs 22 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018. Its EBITDA margin also increased 159 bps to 10% in Q1 June 2019 as against Q1 June 2018. The result was announced on Saturday, 10 August 2019.
Telecom stocks were under pressure following aggressive future plans by the rival Reliance Jio. Vodafone Idea (down 5.41%), Bharti Airtel (down 5.24%) and MTNL (down 3.96%) declined.
Index major Reliance Industries (RIL) was up 10.46% at Rs 1283.55. RIL's chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani on Monday addressed the shareholders of the company at its 42nd annual general meeting (AGM). He unveiled aggressive plans for the telecom business.
Reliance JioFiber broadband services are set to launch from 5th September. Reliance Jio's digital set-top box will come bundled with ultra high definition entertainment, virtual reality content multi-party video conferencing, voice-enabled virtual assistants, interactive gaming, home security and many other smart-home solutions. Voice calls from home to any Indian operator - mobile or fixed - will be absolutely free forever.
Jio Fibre plan starts with 100 Mbps speed and goes all the way up to 1 Gbps or 1000 Mbps. This will disproportionately improve the quality of fixed-line data in India. And prices are at less than 1/10th the global rates, to make it accessible for all. Jio Fiber plans will be priced between Rs 700 to Rs 10,000 per month to suit every budget and every need.
Under a Welcome Offer, Jio Fiber customers who opt for annual plans, will get an HD or 4K LED television and a 4K set-top-box absolutely free. Jio Fiber customers will be able to watch movies in their living rooms the same day these movies are released in theatres. The firm calls this Jio first-day-first-show. It plans to launch this service in the middle of 2020.
Reliance Jio has invested nearly Rs 3.5 lakh crore towards creating a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure across India, with the largest optical fiber footprint. Jios customer base has crossed 340 million users and it is signing up more than 10 million new customers each month.
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