Stocks continued to trade with small losses in mid-morning trade. At 11:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 62.71 points or 0.19% at 33,534.09. The Nifty 50 index was down 28.35 points or 0.27% at 10,296.80. Frontline IT stocks fell. Pharma shares gained.
Key benchmark indices drifted lower in early trade amid initial volatility. Stocks hovered in negative zone in morning trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was off 0.12%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.18%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,297 shares rose and 997 shares fell. A total of 104 shares were unchanged.
Frontline IT stocks fell. Infosys (down 1.48%), Wipro (down 0.37%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.45%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.06%) and TCS (down 0.72%) declined. MindTree (up 3.45%), Hexaware Technologies (up 2.45%) and Mphasis (up 7.99%) rose.
HCL Technologies (HCL) shed 0.34% after the company announced the acquisition of C3i Solutions, a leader in multi-channel customer engagement services for the life sciences and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries, from Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA (known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada). The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 5 April 2018.
With this acquisition, HCL will complement its broad-based IT and business services capability with the additional depth that C3i has in the life sciences and CPG verticals.
Pharma shares gained. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.02%), Cipla (up 0.34%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.73%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.3%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 0.9%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 2.35%) and Wockhardt (up 1.38%) rose. Cadila Healthcare (down 0.3%) and Alkem Laboratories (down 0.92%) fell.
Lupin rose 3.98% after the company said that it has received the Establishment Investigation Report (EIR) from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for the successful inspection of its Pithampur, Unit 1. The inspection was conducted in July 2017. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 6 April 2018.
Lupin's managing director, Nilesh Gupta, said that the successful outcome of this inspection is encouraging, and further validates the company's commitment to meeting global manufacturing standards.
Sobha jumped 8.52% after the company reported impressive sales growth in Q4 March 2018. Sobha said its operational performance for the fourth quarter and for the financial year 2017-2018 has been the best ever in value terms, with growth across regions and product categories. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 5 April 2018.
For the fourth quarter, the company has achieved new sales volume of 1.02 million square feet, total valued at Rs 812 crore at an average price realisation of Rs 7,993 per square feet (Sobha share of sales value at Rs 656 crore, at an average price realization of Rs 6,457 per square feet). Sales volume and values are up by 40% and 31% respectively as compared to corresponding quarter of last year and are up by 9% and 7.5% as compared to preceding quarter.
The company registered new sales volume of 3.63 million square feet, total valued at Rs 2861 crore at an average price realisation of Rs 7,892 per square feet at the close of financial year 2017-2018 (Sobha share of sales value at Rs 2422 crore, at an average price realization of Rs 6,680 per square feet, Sobha said.
Overseas, Asian stocks were trading mixed as traders digested the latest developments in the US-China trade spat and eyed all-important monthly US jobs data later in the day for clues on US monetary policy. Mainland China markets are shut for a holiday.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could slide 312 points at the opening bell today, 6 April 2018. In an announcement that came after US stock trading closed yesterday, 5 April 2018 President Donald Trump instructed the US trade representative to consider slapping an extra $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. The latest move is a continuation of a growing trade dispute between the two countries. Trump previously announced $50 billion in proposed tariffs on goods imported from China, which responded by announcing about $50 billion in proposed tariffs on US goods.
US stocks closed higher yesterday, 5 April 2018 with major indexes posting their first three-day rally in several weeks as investors dialed back fears that a trade spat between the US and China will turn into a full-blown trade war.
Meanwhile, the US trade deficit rose 1.6% in February and remained near a 10-year high. The US trade deficit rose to $57.6 billion in February from $56.7 billion in the prior month, data released yesterday, 5 April 2018 showed.
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