Key benchmark indices continued to languish in negative zone in early afternoon trade. At 12:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 98.81 points or 0.35% at 28,535.69. The Nifty 50 index was currently down 29.70 points or 0.34% at 8,778.70. Weakness in global stocks weighed on sentiment on the domestic bourses.
The Sensex lost 119.66 points or 0.41% at the day's low of 28,514.84 in mid-morning trade, its lowest level since 16 September 2016. The barometer index rose 64.31 points or 0.22% at the day's high of 28,698.81 at the onset of trading session. The Nifty lost 40.95 points or 0.46% at the day's low of 8,767.45 in early trade, its lowest level since 16 September 2016. The index rose 8.05 points or 0.09% at the day's high of 8,816.45 at the onset of trading session.
In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks were mostly lower tracking lacklustre trading on Wall Street overnight ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting starting today, 20 September 2016. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) begins a two-day monetary policy meeting today, 20 September 2016. The central bank will conduct a comprehensive review of its stimulus programme after failing to reach its 2% inflation target. Investors are divided on what steps the central bank will take. Some expect that the BOJ will push back additional easing steps, while making its government bond buying more flexible to steepen the yield curve. Others expect the BOJ to launch fresh stimulus through a further push into negative territory and increased asset purchases. The central bank had kept its pledge to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of about 80 trillion yen and left the interest rate unchanged at minus 0.1% at its July 2016 meeting. Policymakers also decided to increase the annual exchange-traded equity funds purchase target to 6 trillion yen from the previous 3.3 trillion yen.
US stocks registered tiny losses yesterday, 19 September 2016, after a choppy session, with telecommunications shares lagging. The US Federal Reserve policy makers begin their two-day policy meeting today, 20 September 2016. The Fed is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the wake of recent downbeat US economic indicators. The Fed left the target range for its federal funds rate unchanged at 0.25% to 0.5% for the fifth time during its July 2016 meeting.
Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market once again turned negative from positive in early afternoon trade. On BSE, 1,321 shares declined and 1,058 shares rose. A total of 164 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.11%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently down 0.08%. The losses for this index was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
IT stocks were mixed. Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.49%), HCL Technologies (up 0.61%) and Tech Mahindra (up 0.02%) edged higher. TCS (down 0.63%) and Wipro (down 0.04%) edged lower.
Index heavyweight and software major Infosys was down 0.99% at Rs 1,050.60. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,057.25 and a low of Rs 1,047.50 so far during the day.
Auto stocks declined. Hero MotoCorp (down 1.87%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.28%), Tata Motors (down 0.65%), TVS Motor Company (down 0.7%) and Ashok Leyland (down 0.65%) edged lower. Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.77%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.51%) edged higher.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was off 0.24%. The company announced that India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has assigned 'Provisional IND AAA' rating with stable outlook for the company's proposed issue of Rs 475 crore non-convertible debentures. The ratings agency has also assigned 'IND A1+' rating for the company's proposed issue of Rs 700 crore commercial papers. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 September 2016.
Karur Vysya Bank rose 1.17% at Rs 482.25 after the bank said that its board of directors approved a 5-for-1 stock split proposal. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 September 2016.
Canara Bank gained 0.68% at Rs 304.75 after the bank's board of directors scheduled a board meeting on 23 September 2016 to consider raising of capital by way of a rights issue and strengthening of capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of the bank. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 September 2016.
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