The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, hit fresh intraday low while the Nifty 50 index hovered in negative terrain in afternoon trade. At 13:16 IST, the Sensex was down 91.72 points or 0.32% at 28,542.78. The Nifty was currently down 28.25 points or 0.32% at 8,780.15. Weakness in global stocks weighed on sentiment on the domestic bourses.
The Sensex lost 131.64 points or 0.46% at the day's low of 28,502.86 in afternoon trade, its lowest level since 16 September 2016. The barometer index rose 64.31 points or 0.22% at the day's high of 28,698.81 at the onset of trading session. The Nifty lost 40.95 points or 0.46% at the day's low of 8,767.45 in early trade, its lowest level since 16 September 2016. The index rose 8.05 points or 0.09% at the day's high of 8,816.45 at the onset of trading session.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was negative. On BSE, 1,440 shares declined and 1,097 shares rose. A total of 177 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.05%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently down 0.14%. The losses for this index was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
In overseas stock markets, most European stocks edged lower in early trade today, 20 September 2016, as global investors awaited the outcomes of separate policy meetings of the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan. Asian stocks were mostly lower tracking lacklustre trading on Wall Street overnight ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting starting today, 20 September 2016. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) begins a two-day monetary policy meeting today, 20 September 2016. The central bank will conduct a comprehensive review of its stimulus programme after failing to reach its 2% inflation target. Investors are divided on what steps the central bank will take. Some expect that the BOJ will push back additional easing steps, while making its government bond buying more flexible to steepen the yield curve. Others expect the BOJ to launch fresh stimulus through a further push into negative territory and increased asset purchases. The central bank had kept its pledge to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of about 80 trillion yen and left the interest rate unchanged at minus 0.1% at its July 2016 meeting. Policymakers also decided to increase the annual exchange-traded equity funds purchase target to 6 trillion yen from the previous 3.3 trillion yen.
US stocks registered tiny losses yesterday, 19 September 2016, after a choppy session, with telecommunications shares lagging. The US Federal Reserve policy makers begin their two-day policy meeting today, 20 September 2016. The Fed is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the wake of recent downbeat US economic indicators. The Fed left the target range for its federal funds rate unchanged at 0.25% to 0.5% for the fifth time during its July 2016 meeting.
Back home, metal shares edged higher as copper price edged higher in the global commodities markets. Steel Authority of India (up 2.33%), Tata Steel (up 1.73%), Hindustan Zinc (up 1.45%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.22%), Hindalco Industries (up 0.90%), National Aluminium Company (up 0.76%), NMDC (up 0.29%), Bhushan Steel (up 0.24%), JSW Steel (up 0.20%) and Vedanta (up 0.18%), edged higher. Hindustan Copper was down 0.79%.
High Grade Copper for December 2016 delivery was currently up 0.28% at $2.1625 per pound on the COMEX.
More From This Section
Pharmaceutical shares were mixed. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 1.54%), Alkem Laboratories (down 0.6%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.56%), IPCA Laboratories (down 0.42%), Divi's Laboratories (down 0.3%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.23%), Piramal Enterprises (down 0.12%) and Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.02%), edged lower. Lupin (up 0.53%), Cipla (up 0.64%), Strides Shasun (up 1.77%) and Wockhardt (up 3.35%), edged higher.
Cadila Healthcare rose 1.91% to Rs 394.50 after the company said it entered into partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company to tackle chikungunya, an emerging infectious disease. The broad-based agreement includes early stage development to the final commercialisation of the vaccine. There is currently no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat chikungunya virus infection. Terms of the agreement are not disclosed, but it is expected that this partnership will boost access to medicines in the future through this novel partnership. The announcement was made during market hours today, 20 September 2016.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose 0.25% at Rs 3,164.50 after the company said it has launched Paricalcitol injection, USP, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Zemplar (paricalcitol) injection in the United States market approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA). The Zemplar brand and generic had annual US sales of approximately $22.5 million for the twelve months ended July 2016 according to IMS Health data. Dr. Reddy's Paricalcitol Injection is available in 2 mcg, 5 mcg, and 10 mcg, and is the first ANDA product launched in the US market. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 September 2016.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News