The Sensex was trading near the day's low while the Nifty hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. At 11:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 90.35 points or 0.25% at 36,451.28. The Nifty 50 index was down 47.30 points or 0.43% at 10,971.60. The Nifty was trading below the psychologically important 11,000 mark in morning trade after opening above that level.
Overseas, Asian shares declined. Market in Japan is closed for a holiday on Monday. Meanwhile, China on Monday posted second-quarter GDP growth of 6.7% from a year ago, slightly lower than 6.8% in the first quarter of 2018.
In US, the Dow on Friday moved above the 25,000 level for the first time in nearly a month while the technology-powered Nasdaq to a record, underlining an uptrend that has been driven by signs of economic strength and solid quarterly earnings.
On the US data front, the cost of import goods fell sharply in June to mark the biggest drop in about a year and a half, though the respite is unlikely to continue once tariffs between the US and other countries go into effect. A read on consumer sentiment fell to a six-month low of 97.1 in July.
Back home, trading was volatile. Indices opened higher and declined as the session progressed. The Sensex rose 117.08 points, or 0.32% at the day's high of 36,658.71 in early trade. The index fell 96.47 points, or 0.26% at the day's low of 36,445.16 in morning trade. The Nifty rose 0.6 points, or 0.01% at the day's high of 11,019.50 in early trade. The index fell 48.35 points, or 0.44% at the day's low of 10,970.55 in mid-morning trade.
Broader market witnessed a steep decline. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.39%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.57%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 490 shares rose and 1688 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.
Most pharmaceutical shares declined. Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 8.17%), Wockhardt (down 3.36%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 2.75%), Lupin (down 2.54%), Divi's Laboratories (down 2.4%), Cadila Healthcare (down 2.19%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 1.65%), Strides Shasun (down 1.49%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 1.3%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.98%), Alkem Laboratories (down 0.57%) and IPCA Laboratories (down 0.48%), edged lower. Piramal Enterprises (up 0.50%) and Cipla (up 0.56%), edged higher.
Most IT shares rose. Persistent Systems (up 1.74%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.66%), Wipro (up 0.50%), MindTree (up 0.30%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.27%), MphasiS (up 0.09%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.09%) and TCS (up 0.04%), edged higher. HCL Technologies was down 0.37%.
IT major Infosys was up 3.70%. On a consolidated basis, Infosys' net profit declined 2.1% to Rs 3612 crore on 5.8% rise in revenues to Rs 19128 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q4 March 2018. Financial year ending March 2019 revenue guidance in constant currency was retained at 6%-8%, while operating margin guidance was retained at 22%-24%. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 13 July 2018.
Infosys board of directors also considered, approved and recommended a bonus issue of one equity share for every equity share held and a stock dividend of one American Depositary Share (ADS) for every ADS held, as on a record date to be determined.
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