Key benchmark indices were hovering near the day's low in afternoon trade. At 13:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 290.43 points or 0.86% at 33,312.33. The Nifty 50 index was down 86.20 points or 0.83% at 10,275.10. Fall in Asian stocks and an overnight slide in US stocks weighed on sentiment.
Domestic stocks saw gap-down opening taking cues from negative Asian stocks. Key benchmark indices extended early slide and hit fresh intraday low in morning trade. Weakness persisted on the bourses in mid-morning trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.29%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.04%. The fall in both these indices was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1,421 shares fell and 1,140 shares rose. A total of 138 shares were unchanged.
Market may remain volatile as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month November 2017 series to December 2017 series. The November 2017 derivatives contract expire today, 30 November 2017.
Most IT stocks declined. Tech Mahindra (down 1.46%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.91%), MindTree (down 0.71%), MphasiS (down 0.46%), HCL Technologies (down 0.42%) and TCS (down 0.35%), edged lower. Wipro (up 0.13%), Persistent Systems (up 0.14%) and Hexaware Technologies (up 0.59%), edged higher.
IT major Infosys was down 0.01%. Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys, announced the global availability of Finacle Trade Connect, a blockchain based trade finance solution for banks. The solution will help digitize the trade finance business process, including validation of ownership, certifying documents and making payments, while working on a distributed, trusted and shared network. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 29 November 2017.
Most pharmaceutical shares declined. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.94%), Lupin (down 0.8%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.68%), Wockhardt (down 0.62%), Strides Shasun (down 0.55%), Piramal Enterprises (down 0.54%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.18%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.17%), edged lower. Divi's Laboratories (up 0.21%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.33%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.33%) and IPCA Laboratories (up 1.24%), edged higher.
Cipla was down 1.36%. The company during trading hours today, 30 November 2017, announced that it has received an approval for its product Q-TIB from World Health Organisation (WHO). Q-TIB is a novel fixed dose combination in a single tablet. This is the first time that such a combination has been made available in the world. Cipla will market the product globally. Q-TIB will help prevent tuberculosis infection in people living with HIV. People living with HIV face a challenged immune system and are prone to opportunistic infections, which constitute the major source of premature deaths among them. As per Global TB Report, 2016, by WHO, about one million people died of AIDS-related illness. Most of them succumbed to opportunistic infections, and among them, 400,000 died of tuberculosis.
Cadila Healthcare fell 2.08%. Cadila Healthcare and The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) announced the launch of new diagnostic kits, developed by ICMR's National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune to detect neglected infectious diseases in livestock. This public private partnership will open newer avenues for many more indigenously diagnostics for public health benefits. The announcement was made at the fag end of trading session yesterday, 29 November 2017.
Tara Jewels slumped 6.21% after the company reported net loss of Rs 166.79 crore in Q2 September 2017, compared with net profit of Rs 0.63 crore in Q2 September 2016. Total revenue declined 72.89% to Rs 72.44 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 29 November 2017.
On the macro front, the government will announce Q2 September 2017 gross domestic product (GDP) data after market hours today, 30 November 2017. India's GDP growth rate slowed to 5.7% in Q1 June 2017, on the back of destocking ahead of Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation.
India's infrastructure output data for the month of October 2017 is also scheduled to be released after market hours today, 30 November 2017. India's eight core infrastructure sector, carrying 40.27% of the weight of items included in the index of industrial production (IIP), had shown a healthy 5.2% increase in its output in September 2017 over September 2016.
Overseas, Asian stocks were trading lower as investors ponder the longevity of the global equity bull run. China's official nonmanufacturing purchasing managers' index, a measure of activity outside factory gates, rose to 54.8 in November from 54.3 in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, 30 November 2017. The official manufacturing PMI, also released today, 30 November 2017 rose to 51.8 in November from 51.6 in October.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2011. The bank raised its policy rate to 1.5% from a record low 1.25% as the economy's steady growth convinced the central bank to embark on policy normalisation.
In US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a new high yesterday, 29 November 2017 even as the Nasdaq Composite logged its worst day in three months as a selloff in megacap technology shares, such as Facebook Inc., Apple Inc., and Amazon.com Inc., weighed on the tech-heavy index.
The Federal Reserve released the Beige Book, a compilation of anecdotes on the US economy. In the report, the Fed said it detected a slight improvement in the outlook among contacts in its 12 districts with growth remaining at a modest to moderate pace. The central bank has also witnessed strengthening in inflation pressures over the past month with increases passed on the consumers.
In economic news, the US economy's pace of growth in the third quarter was raised to 3.3% from 3% under the government's latest revision to gross domestic product. Pending-home sales jumped 3.5% in October, but remained 0.6% lower than a year ago.
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