Benchmark indices were trading in a narrow range with modest losses in early afternoon trade. Caution prevailed ahead of union budget, which will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, 5 July. At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 110.06 points or 0.28% at 39,576.44. The Nifty 50 index was down 29.20 points or 0.25% at 11,836.40.
Broader indices outperformed the benchmark index. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.06%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.18%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 913 shares rose and 1247 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.
Adani Group shares surged. Adani Transmission (up 5.85%), Adani Power (up 5.48%), Adani Gas (up 3.43%) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 0.19%) edged higher.
Adani Enterprises, however, was down 0.32% to Rs 153.65.
Strides Pharma Science was down 3.61% to Rs 397.05. The company received a warning letter from US drug regulator relating to Puducherry facility. The facility currently produces 6 ANDAs which will not get impacted by the current development. However, the 10 ANDAs pending approval from the site will get deferred till the site is reclassified. The company said it will work collaboratively with the USFDA to resolve all issues addressed in the warning letter The company retained its growth guidance for the US market.
Auto stocks witnessed selling. Bajaj Auto (down 1.2%), Escorts (down 1.13%) and Mahindra and Mahindra (down 0.02%) declined. Maruti Suzuki India was up 0.04%.
Eicher Motors was down 0.51% to Rs 19498.35. Royal Enfield, the two-wheeler division of Eicher Motors, reported a 22% decline in total sales to 58,339 units in June 2019 over June 2018. Exports during the month, jumped 72% to 3,257 units as against 1,889 units in the corresponding month a year ago, the company said.
TVS Motor Company was down 0.9% to Rs 431.65. The company reported 5.26% fall in total sales to 2.97 lakh units in June 2019 as against 3.13 lakh units in June 2018. Domestic two-wheeler sales fell 8.08% to 2.26 lakh units in June 2019 over June 2018. Two-wheeler exports grew 4% to 57,182 units. Three-wheeler sales grew 10% to 13,641 units.
Hero MotoCorp was down 1.14% to Rs 2587.90. The company reported 12.49% fall in 2-wheeler sales to 6.16 lakh units in June 2019 over June 2018.
SML Isuzu was down 3.66% to Rs 730.05. The company reported 22.4% decline in total sales to 1,564 units in June 2019 over June 2018.
Metal stocks tumbled. Jindal Steel & Power (down 2.29%), Steel Authority of India (down 0.68%), Vedanta (down 0.6%), Tata Steel (down 0.52%), Hindustan Copper (down 0.5%), Hindalco Industries (down 0.43%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.39%) and National Aluminium Company (down 0.01%) declined. NMDC (up 0.65%) edged higher.
Cox & Kings was locked in 5% lower circuit at Rs 32.95 after the company announced that it had defaulted on its repayment obligation toward unsecured commercial papers. The company said that out of aggregate amount of Rs 65 crore, Rs 15 crore has been paid and the balance amount of Rs 50 crore has not been paid. The company assured it has been meeting its liability obligations.
In a separate announcement, Cox & Kings informed that Care Ratings and Brickwork Ratings India downgraded the ratings of various instrument issued by the company. The downgrades were triggered due to delay in servicing of obligations with respect with to some of commercial papers of the company.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.1% at 14.6175.
On the options front, Nifty option chain for 25 July 2019 expiry showed a maximum call open interest (OI) of 16.16 lakh contracts at the 12,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 16.36 lakh contracts was seen at 11,500 strike price. Options data suggested a trading range for Nifty will be between 11,500 and 12,000.
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