Stocks hovered in negative zone in afternoon trade. At 13:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 44.86 points or 0.12% at 36,496.77. The Nifty 50 index was down 33.20 points or 0.30% at 10,985.70. Gains in index heavyweight and IT major Infosys helped cushion steep slide on the bourses.
The Nifty was currently trading below the psychologically important 11,000 mark after falling below that level in intraday trade. Trading was volatile. Indices opened higher and declined as the session progressed. The Sensex rose 117.08 points, or 0.32% at the day's high of 36,658.71 in early trade. The index fell 121.43 points, or 0.33% at the day's low of 36,420.20 in mid-morning trade. The Nifty rose 0.6 points, or 0.01% at the day's high of 11,019.50 in early trade. The index fell 54.80 points, or 0.50% at the day's low of 10,964.10 in mid-morning trade.
Broader market witnessed a steep decline. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.43%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.68%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 551 shares rose and 1886 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.
Wipro (up 1.62%), NTPC (up 1.6%) and Hindustan Unilever (up 1.48%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Tata Steel (down 4.15%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 3.75%) and ICICI Bank (down 3.71%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
Infosys rose 3.79% after the company announced liberal bonus issue after market hours on Friday, 13 July 2018. On a consolidated basis, Infosys' net profit declined 2.1% to Rs 3612 crore on 5.8% rise in revenues to Rs 19128 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q4 March 2018. The net profit included impact of Rs 270 crore on account of reduction in the fair value of assets held for sale.
Infosys board of directors also considered, approved and recommended a bonus issue of one equity share for every equity share held and a stock dividend of one American Depositary Share (ADS) for every ADS held, as on a record date to be determined.
Salil Parekh, CEO and MD, Infosys said that the strong revenue and margin performance in this quarter shows that the company's dual emphasis on Agile Digital and AI-driven Core services is resonating with clients.
Bhansali Engineering Polymers lost 5% to Rs 128.50 after net profit declined 0.65% to Rs 16.77 crore on 10.17% fall in total income to Rs 201.98 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q1 June 2017. The result was announced on Saturday, 14 July 2018.
On the macro front, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 5.77% (provisional) for the month of June 2018 (over June 2017) as compared to 4.43% (provisional) for the previous month and 0.90% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.49% compared to a build up rate of -0.44% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Overseas, European stocks rose as traders looked toward company results after mixed economic data out of China spurred declines for Asian shares. Market in Japan is closed for a holiday on Monday. Meanwhile, China on Monday posted second-quarter GDP growth of 6.7% from a year ago, slightly lower than 6.8% in the first quarter of 2018.
In US, the Dow on Friday moved above the 25,000 level for the first time in nearly a month while the technology-powered Nasdaq to a record, underlining an uptrend that has been driven by signs of economic strength and solid quarterly earnings.
On the US data front, the cost of import goods fell sharply in June to mark the biggest drop in about a year and a half, though the respite is unlikely to continue once tariffs between the US and other countries go into effect. A read on consumer sentiment fell to a six-month low of 97.1 in July.
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