Weakness persisted on the bourses in afternoon trade as index pivotals remained gripped in selling pressure. At 13:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 165.43 points or 0.48% at 34,180.96. The Nifty 50 index was down 61.70 points or 0.58% at 10,492.60. Capital goods stocks edged lower. Telecom stocks fell.
After hitting a fresh intraday low in early trade, key indices pared losses and turned range bound in mid-morning trade. Negative global cues put pressure on domestic stocks. The selling was led by weakness in banks shares.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.71%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.33%, outperforming the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 1,655 shares fell and 857 shares rose. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.
Capital goods stocks edged lower. Praj Industries (down 2.27%), Thermax (down 1.71%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) (down 0.99%), ABB India (down 0.04%), L&T (down 0.96%), Punj Lloyd (down 0.74%) and Siemens (down 0.97%) fell. BEML (up 0.23%) and Bharat Electronics (up 0.07%) rose.
Telecom stocks fell. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1.28%), Reliance Communications (down 1.6%), Bharti Airtel (down 0.68%), Idea Cellular (down 0.95%) and MTNL (down 0.44%) declined.
Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 0.86%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
Kridhan Infra (KIL) rose 2.2% to Rs 115.90 after the company announced that it has completed the acquisition of 31.5% stake in Vijay Nirman Company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 27 February 2018.
Kridhan Infra has allotted 76.79 lakh equity shares to the institutional shareholders of Vijay Nirman Company (VNC) on preferential basis and all the required approvals are received from BSE and NSE. After this acquisition the VNC has become an associate company of KIL. The company had also signed a share subscription agreement (SSA) for increasing its stake to 50.5% and the process is on to complete that transaction.
Astral Poly Technik lost 1.44% to Rs 857.70, with the stock sliding on profit booking after recent rally. Shares of Astral Poly Technik had rallied 14.63% in the past three trading sessions to settle at Rs 870.25 yesterday, 27 February 2018, from its close of Rs 759.15 on 22 February 2018.
On the macro front, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 52.1 in February 2018 from 52.4 in January 2018. The PMI registered above the neutral 50 threshold for the seventh consecutive month and indicated a modest improvement in operating conditions.
Investors are keenly awaiting India's Q3 gross domestic product (GDP) data for the financial year 2017-2018. The government will announce Q3 GDP data after market hours today, 28 February 2018. GDP growth had recovered to 6.3% in Q2 September 2017 from 5.7% recorded in Q1 June 2017.
Overseas, Asian stocks declined across the board following a sharp pullback in US stocks after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's hawkish comments to Congress. Weaker than expected economic data from China and Japan also dampened sentiment.
China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 50.3 in February from 51.3 in January, government data showed Wednesday. A score above 50 indicates an expansion; below 50 indicates a decline.
Japanese industrial production fell 6.6% in January from a month earlier, following December's 2.9% increase, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
US stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday, 27 February 2018, following the first public appearance of Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman, replacing Janet Yellen. Powell conveyed an upbeat picture of the US economy but the market focused on his emphasis on coming rate hikes in 2018 and an end to easy-money policies as the central bank tries to stave off once-dormant inflation.
Investors were concerned after comments from new Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell revived fears about faster rate rises in the US. In his first public appearance as head of the US central bank on Tuesday, Powell vowed to prevent the economy from overheating while sticking with a plan to gradually raise interest rates. He acknowledged the economy had strengthened recently, a remark that prompted investors to increase bets on four rate increases in 2018. The interest rate hike in the world's largest economy has implications for emerging economies like India in the form of capital outflows.
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