Losses in banking, metal and IT stocks and index heavyweight Reliance Industries pulled key benchmark indices lower as further security scares in Paris weighed on investor confidence. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex fell 381.95 points or 1.48% to settle at 25,482.52. The Nifty 50 index fell 105.75 points or 1.35% to settle at 7,731.80. The Sensex and Nifty, both, hit their lowest closing level in more than 10 weeks.
Sensex and Nifty snapped their two-day winning streak.
Overseas cues were negative. European and Asian stocks edged lower as further security scares after the Paris attacks last week weighed on investor confidence.
The Sensex fell 381.95 points or 1.48% to settle at 25,482.52, its lowest closing level since 8 September 2015. The index fell 411.15 points or 1.58% at the day's low of 25,453.22 in late trade. The index rose 25.89 points or 0.1% at the day's high of 25,890.36 in early trade.
The Nifty fell 105.75 points or 1.35% to settle at 7,731.80, its lowest closing level since 8 September 2015. The index fell 112.50 points or 1.44% at the day's low of 7,725.05 in late trade. The index rose 5.85 points or 0.07% at the day's high of 7,843.40 in early trade.
The BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.68%. The BSE Small-Cap index dropped 0.71%. The decline in both these indices were lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
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The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak. On BSE, 1,615 shares fell and 1,046 shares rose. A total of 185 shares were unchanged.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 2921 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 2519.82 crore registered during the previous trading session.
Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE IT index (down 2.29%), BSE Bankex index (down 1.95%), BSE Metal index (down 1.53%), and BSE Teck index (down 1.81%) underperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE FMCG index (down 0.22%), BSE Healthcare index (down 0.61%), BSE Auto index (down 0.84%), BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.68%), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.26%), BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.19%), BSE Power index (down 0.42%) and BSE Realty index (down 0.96%) outperformed the Sensex.
Shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 1.63% at Rs 912.35. The stock hit a high of Rs 931.65 and a low of Rs 910 in intraday trade.
Bank stocks declined. Among PSU banks, IDBI Bank (down 4.1%), Punjab National Bank (down 3.33%), Bank of Baroda (down 2.83%), Union Bank of India (down 2.91%), State Bank of India (down 2.8%), Canara Bank (down 2.5%), Bank of India (down 2.46%), United Bank of India (down 1.38%) and Indian Bank (down 0.63%) edged lower. Corporation Bank (up 0.12%) edged higher.
Among private sector banks, Yes Bank (down 2.97%), Axis Bank (down 2.45%), ICICI Bank (down 2.66%), HDFC Bank (down 1.17%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 0.97%) and IndusInd Bank (down 0.87%) edged lower.
IT stocks declined. Infosys (down 3.89%), TCS (down 1.61%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.99%), HCL Technologies (down 0.95%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.05%) and Wipro (down 0.64%) edged lower.
Metal and mining stocks edged lower on weakness in global commodity prices. Hindalco Industries (down 5.07%), Hindustan Zinc (down 4.88%), Vedanta (down 3.1%), Steel Authority of India (down 2.64%), NMDC (down 1.93%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.59%) and JSW Steel (down 1.09%) declined. National Aluminium Company (up 0.14%) edged higher.
High Grade Copper for December 2015 delivery was currently down 0.14% at $2.101 per pound on the COMEX.
Tata Steel declined 3.69% at Rs 225.85. The stock hit a high of Rs 234.80 and a low of Rs 225.15 in intraday trade. The company during market hours today, 18 November 2015, announced that it has taken a step towards beginning a new chapter by dedicating its Kalinganagar steel plant to Odisha. The Kalinganagar steel plant is the largest single-location Greenfield steel project in India. The first phase of 3 million tonnes per annum (MnTPA) of 6 MnTPA will produce world-class flat, lighter, high-tensile strength steel. Tata Steel will augment its Indian production to around 13 MnTPA of crude steel in India and will now expand its portfolio to high-grade flat products for ship-building, defence equipment, energy and power, infrastructure building, aviation and lifting & excavation, Tata Steel said. This expansion will also reinforce Tata Steel's leadership position in the domestic automotive segment, the company said in a statement.
Shares of state-run coal mining giant Coal India rose 0.83% at Rs 334.95. The stock hit a high of Rs 339.35 and a low of Rs 327.95 in intraday trade. According to reports, the Union Cabinet today, 18 November 2015, approved a plan to sell Government of India's (GOI) 10% stake in the company. The GOI currently holds 79.65% in Coal India. It may be recalled that the government had sold a 10% stake in Coal India in January this year.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories fell 1.87% at Rs 3,375.55. The stock hit a high of Rs 3,437 and a low of Rs 3,369 in intraday trade. The company announced during trading hours today, 18 November 2015, that it has completed the purchase of worldwide exclusive intellectual property rights for Fondaparinux sodium, its generic anti-coagulant drug from its Australian partner, Aichemia. Earlier, the company had signed a term sheet for this transaction in September 2015. Alchemia's shareholders approved the sale of Fondaparinux at the company's annual general meeting held on 10 November 2015, post which Dr Reddy's Lab and Alchemia have executed a purchase and sale agreement, together with various patent assignment deeds. Alchemia has received $17.5 million from Dr Reddy's Lab as consideration for the sale. The agreement is effective July 2015, Dr Reddy's Laboratories said in a statement.
Aviation stocks edged higher. SpiceJet (up 9.48%) and InterGlobe Aviation (up 0.9%) edged higher. Jet Airways (India) (down 2.95%) edged lower. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed penalties on these 3 airlines for concerted action in fixing and revising fuel surcharge (FSC) for transporting cargo. The final order was passed by CCI on 17 November 2015 in a matter which was filed by Express Industry Council of India under section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 against Jet Airways (India), InterGlobe Aviation, Spice Jet, Air India and Go Airlines (India) alleging contravention of the provisions of section 3 of the Act which deals with anti-competitive agreements.
The Commission noted that the airlines acted in parallel in collusion in fixing FSC rates. Such conduct was found to have resulted in indirectly determining the rates of air cargo transport and thereby in contravention of the provisions of section 3(1) read with section 3(3)(a) of the Act. Accordingly, penalties of Rs 151.69 crore, Rs 63.74 crore and Rs 42.48 crore were imposed upon Jet Airways (India), InterGlobe Aviation and SpiceJet respectively for the impugned conduct which was found to be in contravention of the provisions of section 3(1) read with section 3(3)(a) of the Act. Besides, cease and desist order was also issued against the Airlines.
No penalty, however, was imposed upon Air India as its conduct was not found to be parallel with other Airlines. Similarly, no penalty was imposed upon Go Airlines (India) as it gave its cargo belly space to third party vendors with no control on any part of commercial/ economic aspects of cargo operations done by vendors including imposition of FSC.
Key benchmark indices snapped two-day winning streak today, 18 November 2015. The Sensex had risen 253.94 points or 0.99% in preceding two trading sessions to settle at 25,864.47 yesterday, 17 November 2015, from a recent low of 25,610.53 on 13 November 2015. The Sensex has declined 1,174.31 points or 4.4% in this month so far (till 18 November 2015). The Sensex has fallen 2,016.90 points or 7.33% in this calendar year so far (till 18 November 2015). From a 52-week low of 24,833.54 hit on 8 September 2015, the Sensex has risen 648.98 points or 2.61%. The Sensex is off 4,542.22 points or 15.12% from a record high of 30,024.74 hit on 4 March 2015.
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