Key barometers were hovering near flat line in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:19 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 4.23 points or 0.01% at 35,543.10. The Nifty 50 index was up 4 points or 0.04% at 10,776.05.
The indices opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in early trade. Indices reversed trend in morning trade and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. Indices once again regained positive zone after hitting intraday low in early afternoon trade. Indices turned almost flat in mid-afternoon trade.
The Sensex rose 131.36 points, or 0.37% at the day's high of 35,678.69 in early trade. The index fell 77.13 points, or 0.22% at the day's low of 35,470.20 in afternoon trade. The Nifty rose 37.55 points, or 0.35% at the day's high of 10,809.60 in early trade. The index fell 24.50 points, or 0.23% at the day's low of 10,747.55 in afternoon trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.19%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.41%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 861 shares rose and 1604 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.
Auto stocks declined. Mahindra & Mahindra (down 2.51%), Escorts (down 1.86%), Ashok Leyland (down 1.1%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.7%), Eicher Motors (down 0.47%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.46%), Hero MotoCorp (down 0.27%) and TVS Motor Company (down 0.22%), edged lower. Tata Motors was up 0.34%.
Most realty shares declined. Anant Raj (down 1.42%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (down 1.35%), Unitech (down 1.34%), D B Realty (down 1.09%), Parsvnath Developers (down 1.03%), Prestige Estates Projects (down 0.95%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 0.78%), Peninsula Land (down 0.55%), DLF (down 0.5%) and Oberoi Realty (down 0.15%), edged lower. Mahindra Lifespace Developers (up 0.10%), Sobha (up 0.27%), Sunteck Realty (up 0.43%), Godrej Properties (up 0.52%), Omaxe (up 1.11%) and Phoenix Mills (up 1.31%), edged higher.
On the macro front, the government has reportedly increased import duties on some agricultural and steel products that are imported from the US in retaliation against Washington's new global tariffs on steel and aluminium. The revised tariff will come into effect from 4 August 2018, reports added.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday, 20 June 2018, released the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held between 4-6 June 2018. All six members of the MPC maintained their neutral policy stance and also voted in favour of a repo rate increase of 25 basis points to 6.25%, revealed the minutes of the meeting.
According to the minutes, RBI governor Urjit Patel said inflation risks have increased since the April policy. Patel, therefore, voted for an increase in the policy repo rate by 25 basis points. In view of prevailing uncertainties, it is apposite to maintain the neutral stance so as to respond to the evolving situation in a flexible manner, he added.
Among the internal members, deputy governor Viral Acharya said that there were considerable uncertainties around oil and food prices as well as the playing out of trade wars and global financial market outcomes, and voted for continuing with the neutral stance. The third RBI member Michael Patra pushed for front-ending rate hikes on the grounds that there is a closing sliver of opportunity to do so.
Overseas, European markets were higher against a backdrop of growing tensions in the oil market ahead of an OPEC meeting that could expand crude production. Meanwhile, the Bank of England (BOE) is widely expected to hold interest rates steady Thursday, though policymakers at the central bank could lay the groundwork for a rate hike as soon as August.
Most Asian stocks declined, driven by uncertainty surrounding trade relations between the world's two largest economies. US stock closed mostly higher Wednesday, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its seventh consecutive daily decline.
Focus is largely centered on a meeting of major oil producers taking place in Vienna. Oil-producing nations appeared to inch closer to an output agreement Wednesday although a final decision is not due until Friday. Energy ministers have gathered in the Austrian capital to determine the future of OPEC's 18-month-old agreement with Russia and other allied partners to limit production.
The US current-account deficit increased to $124.1 billion (preliminary) in the first quarter of 2018 from $116.1 billion (revised) in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The deficit was 2.5% of current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter, up from 2.4% in the fourth quarter.
Existing-home sales ran at a seasonally-adjusted annual 5.43 million rate in May, down 0.4% from April, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
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