Nifty slips below 11,000 mark

The market sharply reversed trend and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. At 12:19 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 59.16 points or 0.16% at 36,460.80. The Nifty 50 index was down 10.45 points or 0.09% at 10,997.60. The Nifty slipped below the psychologically important 11,000 mark. Telecom shares tumbled.

After opening higher, the market pared gains in mid-morning trade and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. The Sensex rose 227.91 points, or 0.62% at the day's high of 36,747.87 in early trade. The index fell 76.47 points, or 0.21% at the day's low of 36,443.49 in early afternoon trade. The Nifty rose 68.15 points, or 0.62% at the day's high of 11,076.20 in early trade. The index fell 13.20 points, or 0.12% at the day's low of 10,994.85 in early afternoon trade.

Broader declined sharply. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.33%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.75%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 846 shares rose and 1448 shares fell. A total of 117 shares were unchanged.

Telecom shares tumbled. Idea Cellular (down 6.48%), Reliance Communications (down 2.91%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 2.84%), Bharti Airtel (down 2.29%) and MTNL (down 2.28%), edged lower.

Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was down 0.44%.

Cement shares were mixed. UltraTech Cement (up 0.88%) and ACC (up 0.35%), edged higher. Ambuja Cements was down 0.95%.

Grasim Industries was down 0.69%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Drug major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was up 1.28%. The company announced during trading hours today, 18 July 2018, that it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for INFUGEM (gemcitabine in 0.9% sodium chloride injection) 10 mg/mL, for intravenous use in a ready-to-administer (RTA) bag. This is the first USFDA approval for a product from Sun Pharma's Halol facility post receipt of Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) in June 2018. The addressable market size is approximately $35 million for the 12 months ending March 2018, as per IQVIA.

On the political front, the Monsoon Session of Parliament begins today, 18 July 2018 and will conclude on 10 August 2018. The Session will provide a total of 18 sittings spread over a period of 24 days. Government has listed a substantive legislative business for the session. This includes 48 items, including 46 Bills and two financial matters. The bills prioritised by the government include The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill or the anti-instant triple talaq bill and The Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, that gives Constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes.

Overseas, most Asian shares were trading higher, tracking overnight gains in the US market following upbeat remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during his congressional testimony.

US stocks closed higher on Tuesday, extending a recent upswing after Fed's Powell indicated the US central bank would not move too quickly in changing monetary policy, and that it would be flexible in the face of changing conditions. Traders also digested the latest round of corporate earnings, which came in mixed but nevertheless showed strong growth.

Appearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said the best way forward is to keep gradually raising the federal-funds rate for now. In a cautious note, however, Powell said that it is difficult to predict the ultimate outcome of current discussions over trade policy as well as the size and timing of the economic effects of the recent changes in fiscal policy.

On the US data front, industrial production rose 0.6% in June to more than offset a similarly sized decline in May. The National Association of Home Builders' monthly confidence index was unchanged at 68 in July.

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