Key benchmark indices edged lower in early trade as weakness in Asian stocks weighed on sentiment. At 9:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 91.79 points or 0.28% at 32,384.95. The Nifty 50 index was down 28.10 points or 0.28% at 10,053.60.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.09%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.07%. The decline in both the indices was lower than the Sensex's fall in percentage terms.
The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 618 shares fell and 599 shares rose. A total of 49 shares were unchanged.
ONGC (down 0.94%), Axis Bank (down 0.87%) and Lupin (down 0.8%) fell from the Sensex pack.
GAIL (India) gained 0.35% after the company said it has commenced 100% construction work in Kerala stretch of Kochi-Koottanad-Mangaluru-Bengaluru Pipeline (KKMBPL) project. GAIL started its foray into the state of Kerala with KKMBPL with a total project cost of Rs 3263 crore. Despite the initial hurdle, the Kerala stretch of the project will gain impetus with commencement of 100% construction work.
This pipeline will form part of the National Gas Grid and it will go a long way in fulfilling the vision of the Government of India towards building a gas based economy, the company said. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 2 August 2017.
Wipro rose 0.22% after the company and Tricentis announced a partnership for quality engineering. This partnership with Tricentis will strengthen Wipro's quality engineering and testing services capabilities, by integrating Tricentis Tosca, a continuous testing platform, with Wipro AssureNXT, a managed services QA platform combined with the capabilities of Wipro HOLMES Artificial Intelligence Platform as a part of the broader automaton ecosystem. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 2 August 2017.
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On macro front, Markit Economics will unveil the result of a monthly survey on the performance of India's services sector in July 2017 at 10:30 IST today, 3 August 2017. Nikkei India Services PMI rose to an eight-month high of 53.1 in June 2017.
Overseas, Asian stocks declined after surging to the highest level in almost 10 years, with investors assessing the strength of company earnings before American labor-market data provides the latest clues on the health of global growth.
China's services sector expanded at a slightly slower pace in July as new business growth eased, a private business survey showed. The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 51.5 in July from 51.6 in June.
Japan's services sector expanded at a slower pace in July as new orders eased, a private survey showed. The Markit/Nikkei Japan Services PMI fell to a seasonally adjusted 52 from 53.3 in June.
In US, the Dow Jones Industrials Average broke above the 22,000 threshold for the first time ever yesterday, 2 August 2017, putting the blue-chip index on track for its seventh straight daily risk, though the broader market pulled back on weakness in energy shares. Private sector hiring remained strong in July as employers added 178,000 jobs, ADP reported. ADP revised June's gain to 191,000.
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