Key benchmark indices were hovering in a narrow range near day's low in afternoon trade. At 13:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 135.03 points or 0.45% at 29,839.21. The Nifty 50 index was down 39.55 points or 0.43% at 9,225.60.
The market sentiment was subdued, tracking weakness in European and Asian stocks and overnight losses on Wall Street, after the Federal Reserve's minutes from March meeting showed that Fed officials want to start unwinding the central bank's massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet later this year.
The BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.23%. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.37%. The decline in both these indices was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
Drug major Cipla was down 0.68% to Rs 588.60. The company announced during trading hours today, 6 April 2017, that its wholly-owned subsidiary in USA Cipla USA Inc. signed a worldwide licensing agreement (except for East Asia) with MEDRx Company (MEDRx) to further develop and commercialize MRX-4TZT, a Tizanidine patch for the management of Spasticity. Under the terms of the agreement, MEDRx is eligible to receive up to USD 30 million cumulatively through upfront and developmental, regulatory, and commercial milestones payments. MEDRx will also receive tiered royalties on the net sales of commercialized licensed products.
FMCG shares were mixed. Jyothy Laboratories (up 1.14%), Tata Global Beverages (up 0.85%), Colgate Palmolive (India) (up 0.78%), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (up 0.39%), Marico (up 0.37%) and Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (up 0.03%), edged higher. Nestle India (down 0.07%), Bajaj Corp (down 0.14%), Britannia Industries (down 0.2%), Dabur India (down 0.33%), Hindustan Unilever (down 0.57%) and Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.71%), edged lower.
IT shares declined. Hexaware Technologies (down 1.33%), MphasiS (down 0.62%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.58%), MindTree (down 0.34%), Persistent Systems(down 0.19%), TCS (down 0.18%), Wipro (down 0.09%) and HCL Technologies (down 0.01%), edged lower. Infosys (up 0.66%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (up 1.91%), edged higher.
Rural Electrification Corporation rose 1.01% to Rs 185.85 after a bulk deal of 10.91 lakh shares was executed on the scrip at Rs 183.75 per share at 09:17 IST on BSE.
On macro front, the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meeting is slated at 14:30 IST today, 6 April 2017. The RBI had left its key repo rate unchanged at 6.25% for the second time at its February 2017 meeting.
Meanwhile, data released by Markit Economics during market hours today, 6 April 2017 showed that the Indian service sector moved further away from the demonetisation-related contractions seen towards the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India composite PMI output index increased to 52.3 in March, from 50.7 in February, signalling a quicker rise in private sector activity across the country.
Overseas, European shares fell in early trade today, 6 April 2017, after minutes of the US Federal Reserve's last meeting raised worries over high stock market valuations, with banks, autos and commodity stocks leading a broad sell-off.
Asian stocks edged lower tracking losses on Wall Street overnight. US stock markets closed lower yesterday, 5 April 2017, after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its March meeting. The minutes showed Fed officials want to start unwinding the central bank's massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet later this year.
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