Volatility struck bourses as the key indices drifted lower in early trade. At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 119.58 points or 0.32% at 36,940.79. The Nifty 50 index was down 34.35 points or 0.31% at 10,884.35. The Sensex drifted below 37,000 level in early trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.48%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.48%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 345 shares rose and 758 shares fell. A total of 45 shares were unchanged.
As per the minutes of the MPC meeting released yesterday, 21 August 2019, all six members of the monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously on cutting the policy repo rate to deal with economic slowdown. The Reserve Bank of India announced a 35 basis points cut in the policy repo rate to 5.40% on 7 August 2019 in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has done away with the broad-based eligibility criteria for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to simplify and expedite the registration process for these entities. In its board meeting yesterday, 21 August 2019, Sebi also cleared the proposal to make Central Banks of other countries eligible for FPI registration. They have been recategorised into two categories, instead of the current three categories.
The market regulator said that is currently not in favour of minimum public shareholding for listed companies being hiked to 35% from the current 25%.
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Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading higher on Thursday after Wall Street got a boost from strong retail results, while bonds retreated as US policy makers sounded conflicted on whether to cut interest rates as sharply as markets were wagering.
Wall Street's main indexes rose on Wednesday as upbeat earnings from retailers pointed to strength in US consumer demand, and held gains after minutes from last month's Federal Reserve meeting showed policymakers had debated a more aggressive interest rate cut.
Back home, Infosys shed 0.61%. Infosys announced that it has expanded its partnership with Google Cloud to become a Google Cloud Managed Service Provider (MSP). This will include consulting, assessment, migration, optimization and support services for enterprises looking to optimize their workloads on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 August 2019.
Oberoi Realty dropped 3.05%. With reference to media reports, Oberoi Realty informed that Income Tax authorities have initiated search and seizure operations at the premises of the company (IT Activity) from 20 August 2019. The IT Activity is currently ongoing and the company has not received any communication from the Income Tax authorities regarding the aim or intent of the IT Activity. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 August 2019.
Kansai Nerolac Paints (KNPL) fell 1.01%. A business transfer agreement (BTA) has been entered into by and between Nerofix Private Limited (incorporated in terms of the JVA, paid-up equity share capital of which is held by KNPL and Polygel in the ratio of 60:40), Polygel, Promoters of Polygel and KNPL. The adhesives, construction chemicals and sealants business of Polygel would be transferred to Nerofix Private Limited as a going concern on slump sale basis, upon payment of the proposed transfer consideration of Rs 20 crore by Nerofix Private Limited. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 August 2019.
NMDC gained 1.97%. NMDC said that the prices of iron ore with effect from 20 August 2019 has peen fixed as Lump Ore (65.5%, 6-40 mm) at Rs 2,900 per tonne and Fines (64%, 10 mm) at Rs 2660 per tonne. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 August 2019.
Dilip Buildcon shed 0.37%. Dilip Buildcon said that the meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled on 26 August 2019 to consider the proposal for divestment of wholly owned subsidiaries (WOS) to one or more potential investors in a structured manner over a period of time in different tranches. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 August 2019.
V-Mart Retail declined 0.97%. V-Mart Retail informed that the company has opened three new stores in Nagaland, Jharkhand and Rajasthan respectively. With this total number of stores increased to 232 stores in 181 cities across 18 states and total tally of stores in Nagaland to 1, in Jharkhand to 18 and in Rajasthan to 7. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 August 2019.
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