A bout of volatility was witnessed in morning trade as key benchmark indices re-entered negative terrain after hitting fresh intraday high in morning trade. At 10:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 32.73 points or 0.10% at 33,233.43. The Nifty 50 index was down 15.90 points or 0.15% at 10,347.75.
The Sensex rose 28.14 points, or 0.08% at the day's high of 33,294.30 in morning trade. The index fell 66.99 points, or 0.20% at the day's low of 33,199.17 in early trade, its lowest level since 27 October 2017. The Nifty rose 4.05 points, or 0.04% at the day's high of 10,367.70 in morning trade. The index fell 22.60 points, or 0.22% at the day's low of 10,341.05 in early trade, its lowest level since 27 October 2017.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.15%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.39%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,253 shares rose and 915 shares fell. A total of 98 shares were unchanged.
Most metal shares declined. Bhushan Steel (down 3.34%), JSW Steel (down 1.18%), Hindalco Industries (down 0.82%), NMDC (down 0.42%), Vedanta (down 0.4%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 0.3%) and Steel Authority of India (down 0.19%), edged lower. Hindustan Copper (up 0.07%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.38%) and National Aluminium Company (up 1.48%), edged higher.
Meanwhile, copper price edged lower in the global commodities markets. High Grade Copper for December 2017 delivery was currently down 0.39% at $3.10 per pound on the COMEX.
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Tata Steel was up 0.18%. On a consolidated basis, Tata Steel reported a net profit of Rs 1017.78 crore in Q2 September 2017 compared with net loss of Rs 49.38 crore in Q2 September 2016. Net sales rose 24.22% to Rs 32101.03 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 30 October 2017.
T V Narendran, Managing Director, said that Tata Steel witnessed strong volume growth during the quarter as the smooth ramp up of its Kalinganagar steel plant coupled with its strong marketing franchise enabled it to expand its customer universe and increase its market share. This is against the backdrop of subdued steel demand during the quarter with slow construction activity, weak rural demand and poor consumer sentiment, he added.
Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director said that Tata Steel Group revenues witnessed a sequential growth of 9% primarily driven by increased volumes across the geographies, with India now contributing to 48% of overall deliveries. However, consolidated EBITDA declined sequentially due to seasonally weaker performance in its European operations, he said. The management is committed to further growing its business in India while building a long term investment in strong European portfolio, he added.
Most pharmaceutical shares rose. Wockhardt (up 1.08%), Divi's Laboratories (up 1%), Cipla (up 0.77%), Strides Shasun (up 0.62%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.61%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.55%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.41%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.32%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 0.29%), Lupin (up 0.23%) and IPCA Laboratories (up 0.08%), edged higher. Piramal Enterprises (down 0.16%) and Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.36%), edged lower.
Drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories was down 1.08%. The company will declare Q2 results today, 31 October 2017.
Telecom firm Reliance Communications surged 11.15% after the company unveiled new debt repayment plan. Reliance Communications (RCom) yesterday, 30 October 2017 made a comprehensive debt resolution plan to its domestic and foreign lenders. RCom's debt resolution plan envisages no loan write-off by the lenders. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 30 October 2017.
RCom will pay off up to Rs 17000 crore of its debt, out of the proceeds of monetization of spectrum, towers and fiber and MCN (Media Convergence Nodes) assets. The company will pay additional Rs 10000 crore of its debt, out of the proceeds of sales and commercial development of DAKC and other prime real estate assets across 8-metros.
RCom said it is working closely with SBI Capital Markets, the advisors appointed by the lenders, to run a competitive process in a transparent manner to monetize the Spectrum, Tower and Fiber, MCNs and prime real estate assets. The company said debt of Rs 7000 crore is proposed to be converted into 51% of the company's equity, as per the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RCom will have conservative level of debt of only Rs 6000 crore after the completion of the new repayment plan, the company said. The company is under a standstill period (for interest and principal repayments) till December 2018 and expects to complete the SDR process as per applicable RBI guidelines.
State-run NTPC was up 0.25% to Rs 182.95. The company informed that Unit#2 of 250 MW of Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project (3 X 250 MW) will be declared on commercial operation from 1 November 2017. With this, the commercial capacity of NTPC would become 43642 MW and that of NTPC Group would become 50858 MW. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 31 October 2017.
Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed following weak closing in the US market. Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.05% after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) lowered some of its price forecasts and left policy unchanged Tuesday. The Japanese central bank voted 8-1 to keep its short- and long-term interest rates unchanged as it continues to inject huge amounts of cash into the financial sector in the hope of reaching its 2% inflation goal.
US stocks ended lower overnight as a report that the House of Representatives is considering phasing in a cut to corporate taxes rather than enacting them immediately weighed on investors' confidence. Tax cuts are the centerpiece in President Donald Trump's business-friendly agenda and are viewed as critical to sustaining the stock market rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.4%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index set a fresh intraday record, but slid 2.30 points to 6,698.96.
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