Stocks hovered in negative zone in morning trade after opening with downward gap. At 10:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 97.23 points or 0.29% at 33,747.63. The Nifty 50 index was down 40.30 points or 0.39% at 10,357.15. Oil & gas stocks declined. Telecom stocks fell.
Trading could be volatile as traders roll over positions in the F&O segment from the near month February 2018 series to March 2018 series. The February 2018 F&O contracts expire today, 22 February 2018.
Domestic stocks nudged lower in early trade on negative Asian stocks.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.21%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.14%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 1,292 shares fell and 837 shares rose. A total of 101 shares were unchanged.
Overseas, Asian shares slipped on the risk of faster hikes in US interest rates. US stocks ended a tumultuous session yesterday, 21 February 2018 firmly lower after minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy-setting meeting sparked a fresh wave of volatility. Minutes of the January 30-31 Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed that officials saw a stronger economy than at the end of 2017 and that more rate increases were in the offing.
An index that tracks US manufacturers rose to a nearly 3-year high in February and a gauge for service-oriented companies hit a six-month peak, according to IHS Markit's flash PMI. The manufacturing index rose to 55.9 from 55.5. The services barometer climbed to 55.9 from 53.3.
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Back home, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.18%), IndusInd Bank (up 0.82%) and Infosys (up 0.57%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Oil & gas stocks declined. Shares of oil exploration and production (E&P) companies edged lower. ONGC (down 1.89%), Reliance Industries (down 0.5%) and Oil India (down 0.41%) fell.
Among PSU OMCs, BPCL (down 4.29%), HPCL (down 0.89%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.71%) declined.
Shares of BPCL lost 4.38% to Rs 427.85 after the stock turned ex-dividend today, 22 February 2018 for an interim dividend of Rs 14 per share for the year ending 31 March 2018.
Telecom stocks declined. Idea Cellular (down 1.5%), Bharti Airtel (down 0.45%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 0.96%) and Reliance Communications (down 0.89%) fell. MTNL (up 10%) surged.
Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 1.6%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
UCO Bank rose 1.13% to Rs 26.85 at 9:50 IST on BSE as bargain hunting emerged after a recent slide. Shares of UCO Bank fell 10.15% in six trading sessions to settle at Rs 26.55 yesterday, 21 February 2018, from its close of Rs 29.55 on 12 February 2018.
Meanwhile, UCO Bank announced after market hours yesterday, 21 February 2018, that it fixed issue price for preferential allotment to the Government of India (GoI) at Rs 31.16 per share. The bank had earlier announced preferential allotment of shares to GoI aggregating to Rs 6507 crore.
Vardhman Special Steels rose 0.17% to Rs 150 after the company approved allotment of shares aggregating to Rs 50 crore to qualified institutional buyers. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 February 2018.
Vardhman Special Steels said that the fund raising committee of the board of directors of the company, at its meeting held on 21 February 2018, approved the allotment of 35.72 lakh shares pursuant to the qualified institutional placement (QIP) to eligibile qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) at the issue price of Rs 140 per share, aggregating to Rs 50 crore.
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