After staging a brief intraday recovery in early afternoon trade, the key benchmark indices weakened again in afternoon trade. At 13:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 202.81 points or 0.82% at 24,622.23. The 50-unit Nifty 50 index was currently off 67.45 points or 0.89% at 7,496.40. In overseas stock markets, most Asian stocks traded in negative zone on continued worries about China's stalling economy.
The Sensex hit its lowest level in more than 19 months when it fell 227.93 points or 0.91% at the day's low of 24,597.11 in afternoon trade. The barometer index rose 57.26 points, or 0.23% at the day's high of 24,882.30 at the onset of trading session. The Nifty hit its lowest level in almost 18 months when it fell 75.80 points or 1% at the day's low of 7,488.05 in afternoon trade. The index rose 24.45 points or 0.32% at the day's high of 7,588.30 at the onset of trading session.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak. On BSE, 1,672 shares fell and 936 shares rose. A total of 167 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently down 0.91%. The fall in this index was higher than Sensex's decline in percentage terms. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently down 0.71%. The fall in this index was lower than Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
In overseas stock markets, most Asian stocks traded in negative zone on continued worries about China's stalling economy. US stocks eked out small gains yesterday, 11 January 2016, after dipping in and out of negative territory as a deepening rout in oil prices hit the energy sector on the heels of the worst weekly start ever to a new year.
Shares of housing finance companies edged lower after stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) lowered the additional exposure limit provided for mutual funds' investment in debt instruments of housing finance companies (HFCs) within the finance sector to 5% of the net asset value (NAV) of the scheme from existing 10%. LIC Housing Finance (down 1.56%), Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (down 2.7%), Gruh Finance (down 3.02%), Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 1.98%) and Can Fin Homes (down 2.38%) fell. This is part of the Sebi's decision to tighten norms on mutual funds' investment in debt instruments with a view to mitigate risks arising on account of high levels of exposure in the wake a crisis recently at JPMorgan Asset Management Company due to a payment default on debentures by Amtek Auto.
Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC was down 0.58% to Rs 1,156. The stock hit high of Rs 1,176 and low of Rs 1,145.60 so far during the day. The company announced after market hours yesterday, 11 January 2016, that HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company, a material subsidiary of the company, on 10 January 2016, incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) called the HDFC International Life and Re Company (HILRCL) with an initial capital outlay of $12.33 million. Further, HILRCL will operate in DIFC, and shall shortly commence its business operations, subject to completion of further regulatory formalities for obtaining the final license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority. HILRCL would be in the business of offering reinsurance capacity to ceding insurers and may also foray into directly underwriting insurance contracts, subject to receipt of necessary approvals. It would initially offer reinsurance capacity in the UAE and subsequently expand to other jurisdictions, using either of the aforesaid business models.
Realty stocks declined. DLF (down 3.21%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 3.11%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (down 3.2%), D B Realty (down 0.09%), Unitech (down 4.07%), Sobha (down 1.66%), Godrej Properties (down 0.36%), Oberoi Realty (down 0.95%) and Parsvnath Developers (down 2.95%) fell.
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