A rangebound movement was witnessed as key benchmark indices languished in negative zone in afternoon trade. At 13:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 77.54 points or 0.29% at 27,123.95. The Nifty 50 index was currently down 18.65 points or 0.22% at 8,319.25. Weakness in Asian stocks weighed on sentiment on the domestic bourses. Asian stocks edged lower as investors awaited US jobs data to get a clearer picture of the health of the world's biggest economy.
The Sensex lost 167.35 points or 0.61% at the day's low of 27,034.14 in morning trade, its lowest level since 30 June 2016. The barometer index rose 93.33 points or 0.34% at the day's high of 27,294.82 in early trade, its highest level since 5 July 2016. The Nifty lost 50.35 points or 0.6% at the day's low of 8,287.55 in morning trade, its lowest level since 30 June 2016. The index rose 15.40 points or 0.18% at the day's high of 8,353.30 in early trade.
In overseas stock markets, European stocks reversed initial losses. Asian stocks edged lower as investors awaited US jobs data to get a clearer picture of the health of the world's biggest economy. US stocks closed mostly lower yesterday, 7 July 2016, tracking sinking oil prices, but the market pared losses late in the session as investors sought bargains ahead of the closely watched jobs report. As per data released by Automatic Data Processing Inc., US private-sector employment picked up a bit in June. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims fell last week to a nearly three-month low. The US government will announce nonfarm payroll report for June 2016 later in the global day today, 8 July 2016.
Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was negative. On BSE, 1,430 shares fell and 1,006 shares rose. A total of 134 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.11%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently down 0.14%. The decline in this index was lower than the Sensex's fall in percentage terms.
Stocks of public sector banks edged lower. Union Bank of India (down 3.2%), Bank of Baroda (down 1.99%), Canara Bank (down 1.98%), Bank of India (down 1.97%), IDBI Bank (down 1.8%) and State Bank of India (down 1.2%) declined. Punjab National Bank (up 0.3%) edged higher.
Stocks of private sector banks were mixed. ICICI Bank (down 1.25%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 0.05%) edged lower. IndusInd Bank (up 1.39%), Yes Bank (up 0.65%) and Axis Bank (up 0.23%) edged higher.
Index heavyweight HDFC Bank was down 1% at Rs 1,172. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,187 and a low of Rs 1,171.35 so far during the day.
Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC lost 0.85% at Rs 1,280. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,300.45 and a low of Rs 1,273.10 so far during the day.
IT stocks were mostly higher. HCL Technologies (up 0.62%), TCS (up 0.28%) and Wipro (up 0.27%) edged higher. Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.21%) and Tech Mahindra (down 0.18%) edged lower.
Index heavyweight and software major Infosys rose 0.45% at Rs 1,162.45 after a bulk deal of 11.22 lakh shares was executed on the scrip at Rs 1,166 per share at 09:22 IST on BSE. The company is scheduled to announce its Q1 June 2016 results on 15 July 2016.
Jaiprakash Associates (JAL) fell 4.82% at Rs 11.46 on profit booking after the stock surged over 40% in the preceding three trading sessions. Shares of JAL surged 40.16% in the preceding three trading sessions to end at Rs 12.04 on BSE yesterday, 7 July 2016, from its close of Rs 8.59 on 1 July 2016. A major portion of the rally materialized on 5 July 2016 when the stock rose a staggering 27.97% in a single trading session after the company's announcement of a deal for divestment of some its cement plants spread across five states in favour of UltraTech Cement (UTCL) for enterprise value of Rs 16189 crore. The announcement was made after market hours on 4 July 2016. The transaction will help JAL reduce its bloated debt and deleverage its balance sheet.
Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest update yesterday, 7 July 2016 that in the week from 30 June to 6 July 2016, rainfall was above long period average (LPA) by 35% over the country as a whole. For the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon until 6 July has been 1% above LPA, thus making a further recovery of 13% from the week ended 29 June, the IMD said. The IMD said in its extended forecast upto 25 July that it expects above normal rainfall activity over central India till 15 July. The weather office expects normal to above normal rainfall over northern parts of the country and northeastern states between 16 to 25 July. The IMD expects a subdued rainfall activity over south Peninsular India.
The IMD has forecast rains to be above normal in July and August 2016. The quantum of the rainfall and its spatial and temporal distribution are critical for the country's agriculture. Around 70% of the country's farmlands are rain-fed.
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