Key equity benchmarks witnessed steep selling pressure Wednesday, dragged by metal and banks stocks. The Nifty came under pressure as soon as it broke the 11,000-mark. It managed to close above 10,900 level, however.
The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 267.64 points or 0.72% to 37,060.48, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index fell 98.3 points or 0.89% to 10,918 as per the provisional closing data.
The broader market faced intense selling. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.32%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.43%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 658 shares rose and 1819 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.
Tata Motors tanked 8.97% to Rs 112.70 after China's Geely Automobile Holdings said on Wednesday first-half net profit declined 40% amid a sustained downturn in the world's biggest auto market, and it forecast an uncertain outlook for vehicle demand for the rest of the year. The group is China's highest profile car maker globally, due to its investments in Volvo and Daimler. China is a big market for Tata Motors.
Tata Motors hit an intraday low of Rs 109.55, which is also 52-week low for the counter. The stock tumbled 21% in last one month compared to 1.85% fall in BSE Sensex.
Hero MotoCorp (up 1.94%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.8%) and Infosys (up 0.78%) advanced
Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 9.5%), Yes Bank (down 8.99%) and Grasim (down 4.55%) were top losers.
Metals stocks witnessed heavy selling. Steel Authority of India (down 7.95%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.86%), Tata Steel (down 4.38%), National Aluminium Company (down 3.69%), Hindustan Zinc (down 2.06%), Hindustan Copper (down 1.77%), Vedanta (down 1.58%) and Hindalco Industries (down 1.34%) tanked.
NMDC declined 4.27% to Rs 86.3. Karnataka government has decided to cancel the lease given to the state-run company for the Donimalai iron ore mine and to put it under auction.
HDIL hit a 20% lower circuit at Rs 8.78 after the company informed that it has been admitted under the provisions of The Insolvency Bankruptcy Code, 2016 by an order passed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). NCLT had passed the order on 20 August 2019 pursuant to an application filed by Bank of India under Section 7 of IBC. HDIL is under the process to file an appeal to National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ('NCLAT') against the order passed by NCLT.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories declined 1.97% to Rs 2504.55 after the company announced that the audit of its formulations manufacturing plant at Duvvada, Visakhapatnam by the USFDA, has been completed, and a Form 483 with 8 observations has been issued.
Auto major Maruti Suzuki India gained 0.8% after the company announced the launch of Maruti Suzuki Nexa XL6. The new Nexa XL6 is a 6-seater, multi purpose vehicle (MPV) which is also a BS VI compliant. The K15 engine of Nexa XL6 has a peak power of 77KW@6000rpm and maximum torque of 138Nm@4400rpm. The XL6 will be available in a 5-speed manual and 4-speed automatic transmission option at a starting price of Rs 9.79 lakh.
United Spirits was down 0.19% after the company said that its promoter Relay B. V. has hiked stake in the company. The company announced after market hours yesterday that Relay B. V. acquired 33.10 lakh shares at Rs 591.95 per share, aggregating to Rs 195.96 crore. The transaction took place on 20 August 2019 via open markets. The stake of the promoter after the said transaction has risen from 54.78% to 55.24%.
On the political front, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has put out a lookout circular for former union minister P Chidambaram, who is untraceable ever since the Delhi High Court denied him protection from arrest on Tuesday, after which the CBI visited his home in Delhi twice. Chidambaram failed to win a reprieve from the Supreme Court, which rejected his petition for anticipatory bail in the INX Media scam case.
According to media reports, Chidambaram has been away from his home during visits by the CBI and the ED. Past midnight on Tuesday, the CBI reportedly pasted a notice outside the house asking him to appear before it within two hours of receiving the note.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray will appear before ED in connection with a money laundering probe and has appealed to the party workers not to protest over the issue. The MNS has withdrawn its proposed bandh in the Thane district on Thursday, 22 August 2019.
The ED has summoned Raj Thackeray to appear before it on Thursday in connection with its probe into the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) scam. The agency is probing alleged irregularities relating to loans and equity investment worth over Rs 450 crore by IL&FS in Kohinoor CTNL Infrastructure Company, which is developing Kohinoor Square tower in Mumbai's Dadar area.
Overseas, European stocks traded higher as investors await minutes from a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned, kickstarting consultations between President Sergio Mattarella and party leaders in the hope of a solution to the political crisis.
Asian markets closed on a mixed note on Wednesday as fresh worries about a global recession led investors to dump risky assets, with US President Donald Trump showing no signs of backing down in his trade war with China.
Financial shares led US stocks lower on Tuesday to end a three-day rally as investors awaited comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the end of the week.
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