Stocks traded with weakness after hitting fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade as index heavyweights HDFC, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries fell. At 12:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 96.63 points or 0.27% at 35,120.48. The Nifty 50 index was down 51.15 points or 0.48% at 10,620.25. Some IT stocks rose. Telecom stocks saw mixed trend.
Domestic stocks edged lower in early trade tracking mostly lower Asian stocks. A divergent trend was witnessed in morning trade as the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was trading with small gains while the Nifty 50 index was trading with small losses. Volatility ruled the roost in mid-morning trade as fresh selling pulled the key benchmark indices lower, derailing a brief intraday recovery.
Trading could be volatile for the remaining part of the day as traders roll over positions in the F&O segment from the near month June 2018 series to July 2018 series. The June 2018 F&O contracts expire today, 28 June 2018.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.93%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.23%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 699 shares rose and 1658 shares fell. A total of 118 shares were unchanged.
Some IT stocks rose as the rupee hit a record low above 69 against the US dollar. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.
Infosys (up 1.34%), Wipro (up 0.63%), HCL Technologies (up 0.11%), TCS (down 0.61%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.23%) rose. Tech Mahindra (down 4.17%), MindTree (down 1.62%), Hexaware Technologies (down 2.61%) and Mphasis (down 4.12%) fell.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 68.98, compared with closing of 68.62 during the previous trading session.
Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Bharti Airtel (down 0.47%), MTNL (down 0.62%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1.51%) rose. Idea Cellular (up 1.35%) and Reliance Communications (up 1.12%) declined.
Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 0.48%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
Overseas, Asian markets are trading mixed lower in view of conflicting messages from US President Donald Trump and his aides over whether he would adopt a confrontational approach to limit Chinese investment in America. US stocks fell yesterday, 27 June 2018 as a drop in technology stocks and financials more than offset an advance in the energy sector.
Trump has softened the threat of new curbs on Chinese investment in US firms. Separately, top US economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the Trump administration has no intention of backing down from the current China situation.
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