The selling pressure continued in the mid-afternoon trade with the Nifty briefly slipping below the 11,000 mark. At 14:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 348.18 points or 0.92% at 37,293.27. The Nifty 50 index was down 91.3 points or 0.82% at 11,014.05.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.1%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.67%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 862 shares rose and 1535 shares fell. A total of 145 shares were unchanged.
Godfrey Phillips India gained 4.32% after media reports suggested that Philip Morris International and Altria, which used to be one, giant tobacco company, may merge once again. Philip Morris International is in talks to merge with Altria in a deal that would reunite the makers of Marlboro brand and create the world's largest tobacco group with a market value of nearly $200 billion. Philip Morris sells tobacco products internationally and Altria does business in the United States. As on 30 June 2019, Philip Morris Global Brands Inc. held 25.1% stake in Godfrey Phillips India.
Steel stocks witnessed heavy selling. Jindal Steel and Power (down 7.41%), Steel Authority of India (down 5.64%), Tata Steel (down 3.92%) and JSW Steel (down 2.86%) slumped. The S&P BSE Metal index tumbled 3.25% at 8284.05.
Moody's Investors Service said in a new report that rising input costs and an inability to pass on higher costs to customers is pressuring the profitability of Asian steel producers and as a result revised its outlook for the sector to negative.
Kalpataru Power Transmission slumped 7.59% to Rs 438 after the company received a notice from the World Bank alleging violations in bidding process submitted by its transmission business on two projects in Africa more than 7 years ago. The company has disagreed and intends to contest the proceedings.
Yes Bank tumbled 6.53% to Rs 60.1 after the bank said that its board will meet on Friday, 30 August 2019, to consider raising funds by issuing equity shares. The bank recently raised Rs 1,930 crore via qualified institutions placement (QIP), which was open between 8 and 14 August 2019. The bank allotted 23.1 crore equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each to eligible qualified institutional buyers at Rs 83.55 each.
Multiplex major, PVR announced the opening of three screens multiplex at Riddhi Siddhi Mall in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. With this launch PVR has 800 screens at 170 properties across 69 cities. The stock was trading 0.02% lower at Rs 1566.75.
Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.543% at 14:17 IST compared with 6.521% at close in the previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 71.865, compared with its close of 71.48 during the previous trading session.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for October 2019 settlement was up 48 cents at $59.99 a barrel. The contract rose 81 cents or 1.38% to settle at $59.51 a barrel in the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 4 October 2019 settlement rose 0.15% at Rs 39,101.
Overseas, European markets were trading lower while Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday, as deeper worries about the global economy kept a lid on sentiment.
US stocks slipped on Tuesday, weighed down by financial stocks as a deepening of the Treasury yield curve inversion raised US recession worries and uncertainty over any progress in trade negotiations between the United States and China took a toll.
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