Domestic shares extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. At 11:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 129.47 points or 0.37% at 34,882.42. The Nifty 50 index was down 48.25 points or 0.45% at 10,580.25. Cement and telecom shares fell across the board. The Sensex was trading below the psychologically important 35,000 mark.
The indices displayed some volatility in early trade and later slipped into negative terrain in morning trade. Indices hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. The Sensex rose 61.23 points, or 0.17% at the day's high of 35,073.12 in early trade. The index fell 164.53 points, or 0.47% at the day's low of 34,847.36 in mid-morning trade, its lowest intraday level since 30 May 2018. The Nifty rose 4.65 points, or 0.04% at the day's high of 10,633.15 in early trade. The index fell 63.45 points, or 0.60% at the day's low of 10,565.05 in mid-morning trade, its lowest intraday level since 30 May 2018.
Broader market declined sharply. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.37%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 2.13%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 380 shares rose and 1953 shares fell. A total of 88 shares were unchanged.
Cement shares declined. ACC (down 2.94%), UltraTech Cement (down 1.76%) and Ambuja Cements (down 1.21%), edged lower.
Grasim Industries was down 1.64%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Telecom shares declined. Idea Cellular (down 7.25%), Reliance Communications (down 5.4%), MTNL (down 3.85%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 2.61%) and Bharti Airtel (down 2.58%), edged lower.
Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was down 1.75%.
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) was up 0.29%. The company announced during trading hours today, 5 June 2018, that it will be integrating the Foods and Refreshments categories in South Asia, effective 1 July 2018. This integration will help HUL increase organisational agility and better serve local consumers while harnessing the advantage of global scale. The integration of these two categories is also in alignment with the structure of Unilever globally. The company has also announced some key changes in the management committee.
Sudhir Sitapati, presently executive director, Refreshments, will be re-designated as Executive Director, Foods & Refreshment, and will be responsible for the integrated Foods and Refreshments (F&R) business. He will continue to be a part of the Management Committee of HUL. Geetu Verma, who is the currently the executive director, Foods, India, will be moving to Rotterdam as Global VP - Nutrition & Natural Platforms, Unilever. This is a new role designed to grow Unilever's presence in the Health and Wellbeing sector.
The foods & refreshments business has delivered consistent growth in India. It lends significant scale to Unilever in the region and will continue to be a strategic priority for the business. The company believes this integration will help drive synergies, become more agile and more consumer-centric, HUL said in a statement.
Overseas, Asian markets reversed early losses and were trading higher. US market posted strong gains Monday, led by a rally in the technology and consumer discretionary sectors, as traders appeared to shrug off global trade tensions and focused on a favorable economic backdrop instead.
US factory orders fell by 0.8% in April. The decline was concentrated in commercial aircraft. Orders for nondurable goods rose slightly. The increase in factory orders in March, meanwhile, was raised a tick to 1.7%.
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