A range bound movement was witnessed as key benchmark indices languished in negative zone in early afternoon trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was currently hovering below the psychological 28,000 mark, having alternately moved above and below that level since mid-morning trade. Earlier, the Sensex fell below the psychological 28,000 level in mid-morning trade. The Sensex was currently off 119.03 points or 0.42% at 27,983.87. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak.
Realty stocks declined. Shares of power generation and power distribution companies also edged lower.
Earlier, the Sensex and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit one-week low in mid-morning trade.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 14.43 crore yesterday, 10 August 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 50.05 crore yesterday, 10 August 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
In overseas markets, Asian stocks edged lower after China's central bank moved to devalue its tightly controlled currency. US stocks surged yesterday, 10 August 2015, buoyed by remarks from one Federal Reserve official suggesting a September interest-rate hike may not be a done deal, as well as from a bounce-back in Chinese equities.
At 12:17 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 119.03 points or 0.42% at 27,983.87. The index fell 161.24 points at the day's low of 27,940.48 in mid-morning trade, its lowest level since 4 August 2015. The index gained 103.40 points at the day's high of 28,205.12 at the onset of the trading session.
The Nifty was down 37.85 points or 0.44% at 8,487.75. The index hit a low of 8,471.40 in intraday trade, its lowest level since 4 August 2015. The index hit a high of 8,556.25 in intraday trade.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak. On BSE, 1,652 shares declined and 911 shares rose. A total of 99 shares were unchanged.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 47.58 points or 0.41% at 11,507.82. The decline in this index was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 78.76 points or 0.65% at 11,976.23. The decline in this index was higher than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
Realty stocks declined. Sobha (down 0.67%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 0.59%), Unitech (down 2.14%), Oberoi Realty (down 1.19%), DLF (down 0.62%), and Omaxe (down 0.18%) edged lower.
Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) rose 0.11% after consolidated net profit rose 2.88% to Rs 59.24 crore on 6.39% rise in total income to Rs 272.51 crore in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014. The Q1 result was announced after market hours yesterday, 10 August 2015. Meanwhile, the company said in a separate announcement that it has redeemed non-convertible debentures aggregating to Rs 196.20 crore.
Shares of power generation and power distribution companies edged lower. Torrent Power (down 1.67%), NHPC (down 0.27%), Tata Power Company (down 1.23%), NTPC (down 0.91%), Adani Power (down 1.08%), Reliance Infrastructure (down 0.84%) and Reliance Power (down 0.8%) declined.
Power Grid Corporation of India fell 0.3% to Rs 137.65. The stock hit high of Rs 141.10 and low of Rs 137.25 so far during the day. The company's net profit rose 20.23% to Rs 1366.51 crore on 17.49% growth in total income to Rs 4787.96 crore in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 10 August 2015.
L&T dropped 1.27%. The company during trading hours today, 11 August 2015, announced the appointment of Sanjay Jalona as the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of its wholly owned subsidiary L&T Infotech, with a mandate to lead the company in its next phase of growth. Mr Jalona will operate from L&T Infotech's office in Edison, New Jersey, USA. His appointment adds thrust to L&T Infotech's plans to boost profitable growth and strengthen its presence in the United States, Europe, GCC countries and the Far East, L&T said. Prior to joining L&T Infotech, Mr Jalona was with Infosys as Executive Vice President and Global Head of high-tech manufacturing and engineering services.
Meanwhile, investors continue to monitor developments in Parliament. As per media reports, the government has listed the goods and services tax (GST) bill for discussion and passage in the Rajya Sabha today, 11 August 2015. The GST bill has to be passed during the monsoon session of parliament if the deadline of 1 April 2016 for the introduction of nationwide GST is to be met. If the GST bill gets passed in the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session, the government will have to again go to the Lok Sabha for getting the Lower House's approval for the proposed amendments. The Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST needs the support of two-thirds of the members in both houses. Once both houses of Parliament pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, the bill has to be sent to the states for ratification. At least 50% of the states have to ratify the bill.
GST, touted as the single biggest indirect taxation reforms since independence, will simplify and harmonise the indirect tax regime in the country. Central taxes like Central Excise Duty, Additional Excise Duties, Service Tax, Additional Customs Duty (CVD) and Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD), etc. will be subsumed in GST. At the state level, taxes like VAT/Sales Tax, Central Sales Tax, Entertainment Tax, Octroi and Entry Tax, Purchase Tax and Luxury Tax, etc. would be subsumed in GST.
Meanwhile, investors continue to watch the progress of the monsoon rains which will have a bearing on food prices and rural income. India's weather office, the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said in a daily report issued yesterday, 10 August 2015, that for the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon season was 9% below the Long Period Average (LPA) until 10 August 2015. Region wise, the rainfall was 22% below the LPA in South Peninsula, 11% below the LPA in East & Northeast India, 8% below the LPA in Central India and 2% above the LPA in Northwest India until 10 August 2015.
The June-September southwest monsoon is critical for the country's agriculture because a considerable part of the country's farmland is dependent on the rains for irrigation.
Among key macro economic announcements this week, the government is scheduled to unveil the consumer price index (CPI) data for the month of July 2015 and industrial production data for June 2015 at 17:30 IST tomorrow, 12 July 2015. The CPI inflation accelerated to 5.4% in June 2015 from 5.01% in May 2015. Industrial production rose 2.7% in May 2015, compared with a revised growth of 3.4% in April 2015.
The government will release data on inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) for July 2015 at around 12:00 noon on Friday, 14 August 2015. The WPI inflation continued to be in negative zone for the eighth straight month in June 2015. The WPI inflation stood at negative 2.4% in June 2015, unchanged from the level in May 2015.
In overseas markets, Chinese stocks edged higher in volatile trade today, 11 August 2015, after China's central bank moved to devalue its tightly controlled currency. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.83%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 0.55%. China reportedly devalued the yuan today, 11 August 2015, after a run of poor economic data, guiding the currency to its lowest point in almost three years. The central bank described the move as a one-off depreciation of nearly 2%, based on a new way of managing the exchange rate that better reflected market forces. China's central bank reportedly said that it was necessary to further improve the yuan's midpoint pricing to meet the needs of the market.
Other Asian markets were in red. Key indices in South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore were off 0.42% to 2.15%.
US stocks surged yesterday, 10 August 2015, buoyed by remarks from one Federal Reserve official suggesting a September interest-rate hike may not be a done deal, as well as from a bounce-back in Chinese equities. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer reportedly said in an interview to a television channel yesterday, 10 August 2015, that he doesn't expect the first interest-rate hike by the US central bank in more than nine years to occur until after inflation returns closer to the Fed's target of around 2%. The inflation rate has dipped close to zero in recent months and hasn't been above 2% since April 2012.
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