Key benchmark indices continued to trade in negative terrain in afternoon trade, albeit trimming some intraday losses. At 13:17 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 77.44 points or 0.26% at 29,710.91. The Nifty 50 index was down 18.95 points or 0.21% at 9,218.05.
The market sentiment was subdued in line with cues from global markets as investors across the globe sought safe harbors amid tensions in North Korea and Syria.
The BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.01%. The BSE Small-Cap index lost 0.17%. The decline in both the indices was lower than the Sensex's fall in percentage terms.
The breadth, indicating the health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 1,699 shares fell and 1,016 shares rose. A total of 135 shares were unchanged.
IT stocks declined. TCS (down 0.61%), HCL Technologies (down 0.1%) and Tech Mahindra (down 1.38%) edged lower.
Infosys was up 0.24%. The company is scheduled to announce Q4 March 2017 results tomorrow, 13 April 2017.
Wipro declined 1.17%. The company said it has completed the acquisition of Brazilian IT service provider InfoSERVER. The impact of the buyout will reflect in the financials of the company from the Q1 June 2017, it added.
In January this year, Wipro signed an agreement to acquire InfoSERVER, an IT service provider focused on the Brazilian market for $8.7 million. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 11 April 2017.
FMCG stocks were mixed. Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.52%), Dabur India (down 0.31%), Nestle India (down 0.31%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 0.14%) edged lower. Britannia Industries (up 1.63%), Marico (up 1.45%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (up 1.03%) and Colgate-Palmolive (India) (up 0.49%) edged higher.
Bharti Airtel was down 0.17%. The company said its DTH arm Airtel Digital TV launched Internet TV - India's first hybrid STB, powered by Android TV, which brings the best of online content to the TV screen along with a bouquet of over 500 plus satellite TV channels. The announcement was made during market hours today, 12 April 2017.
Shilpa Medicare surged 5.41% after the US drug regulator accepted the company's corrective and preventive action plan in response to the form 483 issued at the end of Raichur plant inspection. The announcement was made during market hours today, 12 April 2017.
Overseas, European and Asian stocks were mixed as a drumbeat of alarming geopolitical news compelled investors to move money out of risky assets.
North Korea warned yesterday, 11 April 2017, of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign of aggression, as a US Navy strike group steamed toward the western Pacific - a force President Donald Trump described as an "armada".
At the same time, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Moscow to denounce Russian support for Syria's Bashar al-Assad, raising the stakes in the Middle East. Political uncertainty in France also weighed on sentiment as hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon surged in the polls ahead of the May Presidential election.
On data front in Asia, China's consumer inflation rebounded slightly in March after slipping to a more than two-year low in the previous month, official data showed. China's consumer price index increased 0.9% in March from a year earlier, compared with a 0.8% gain in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
China's producer price inflation cooled for the first time in seven months in March. China's producer price index (PPI) rose 7.6% in March from a year earlier, still elevated but in line with expectations and easing from 7.8% in February.
Japanese core machinery orders rose in February, the government said, a sign that companies are investing more for growth despite continuing global political and economic uncertainty. Core machinery orders, a leading indicator of business investment, increased 1.5% from the previous month, following a drop of 3.2% in January, the Cabinet Office said.
US stocks finished slightly lower yesterday, 11 April 2017, as rising geopolitical tensions lured investors out of risky assets like stocks and into the perceived safety of treasuries, gold and the Japanese yen.
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