A bout of volatility was witnessed in morning trade as key benchmark indices bounced back after hitting fresh intraday low in early trade. At 10:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 73.29 points or 0.22% at 32,906.23. The Nifty 50 index was up 12.30 points or 0.12% at 10,134.10. The Sensex retracted after crossing the 33,000 mark in opening trade.
The Sensex and the Nifty, both, bounced back after hitting their lowest intraday levels in more than 2-1/2 weeks in early trade. The Sensex rose 175.53 points, or 0.53% at the day's high of 33,008.47 at the onset of trading session. The index fell 47.18 points, or 0.14% at the day's low of 32,785.76 in early trade, its intraday lowest level since 15 November 2017. The Nifty rose 57.40 points, or 0.57% at the day's high of 10,179.20 at the onset of trading session. The index fell 26.10 points, or 0.26% at the day's low of 10,095.70 in early trade, its intraday lowest level since 15 November 2017.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.03%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.08%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,119 shares rose and 1,067 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.
Most metal shares rose. NMDC (up 1.71%), Vedanta (up 1.20%), Tata Steel (up 1.11%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.83%), Bhushan Steel (up 0.80%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.77%), Hindalco Industries (up 0.76%) and JSW Steel (up 0.28%), edged higher. Jindal Steel & Power (down 0.24%) and Hindustan Copper (down 0.27%), edged lower.
Meanwhile, copper price edged higher in the global commodities markets. High Grade Copper for March 2018 delivery was currently up 0.58% at $3.1105 per pound on the COMEX.
IT shares were mixed. Hexaware Technologies (down 1.4%), TCS (down 0.93%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.64%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.44%) and HCL Technologies (down 0.01%), edged lower. Persistent Systems (up 0.27%), MphasiS (up 0.57%) and MindTree (up 2.94%), edged higher.
IT major Infosys was up 2.64% after the company said its board has appointed Salil S. Parekh as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the company effective 2 January 2018. U B Pravin Rao will step down as the interim CEO and Managing Director effective 2 January 2018 and will continue as Chief Operating Officer and a whole-time Director of the company. The announcement was made on Saturday, 2 December 2017.
Biocon spurted 9.36% to Rs 488.35 after the US drug regulator approved Mylan and Biocon's Ogivri, biosimilar for the treatment of HER2-positive breast and gastric cancers. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 1 December 2017.
IT major Wipro was down 1.52%. The company after market hours on Friday, 1 December 2017, announced that it is a subject of litigation with a long-time customer. The lawsuit relates to an ERP implementation project which began in 2009, and was undertaken by National Grid US. There were multiple vendors on the project. Wipro joined the project in 2010, and the post-Go-live process was completed in 2014. The lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Eastem District of New York seeks damages amounting to $140 million plus additional costs related to the project. The financial implication for Wipro, if any, will depend on the final judgement in the matter.
National Grid has been a valued customer of Wipro in the US and UK for several years. Wipro strongly believes that the allegations misstate facts and the claims are baseless. Wipro will vigorously contest the allegations in court. Wipro provided valuable services with skill and care. During the course of this ERP implementation project, National Grid gave Wipro many positive evaluations. Wipro also received an award from National Grid US with respect to this project in 2014. Wipro has extensive experience across industries in ERP implementation and has forged close partnerships with many leading ERP product players over the past several years. The duration of the engagements, the geographical spread of work and the nature of work delivered across multiple industries is testimony to Wipro's capabilities.
Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading higher. US stocks ended lower on Friday, 1 December 2017, after news surrounding former national-security adviser Michael Flynn added an element of political uncertainty into markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 fell 0.2% each while the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.4%.
Media reported that Flynn, the former national security adviser, would testify that he was directed to make contact with Russians during the presidential campaign in 2016. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his post-election contacts with Russia's ambassador to the US.
Meanwhile, the US Senate approved a tax overhaul on Saturday, 2 December 2017, moving Republicans and President Donald Trump a big step closer to their goal of slashing the corporate tax rate and providing temporary tax-rate cuts for most Americans.
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