Mumbai: Indian shares ended lower on Monday, their third consecutive session of losses, as markets took a breather in anticipation of cues from the March-quarter corporate earnings season that begins later this week.
The benchmark BSE Sensex closed down 0.44% at 29,575.74, its lowest since 29 March. The broader NSE Nifty ended 0.18% lower at 9,181.45, with Infosys Ltd dragging the index down by about 16 points.
■ 3.35pm: The BSE Sensex ended lower by 130.87 points, or 0.44%, to 29,575.74, while the Nifty 50 of the NSE ended lower by 16.85 points, or 0.18%, to 9,181.45.
■ 3pm: The BSE Sensex is currently trading lower by 127.18 points, or 0.43%, to 29,579.43, while the Nifty 50 of the NSE is lower by 22 points, or 0.16%, to 9,176.30.
Liquor stocks fell after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that all liquor shops would be closed across the state in a phased manner.
United Spirit Ltd fell 5%, Pioneer Distilleries down 5%, Globus Spirits 4.7%, Empee Distilleries 1.2%, GM Breweries 5%, Tilaknagar Industries 4.5%, Radico Khaitan 7.2%, Pincon Spirit 1.9% and United Breweries 3.5%.
■ 2.30pm: The BSE Sensex is currently trading lower by 77.87 points, or 0.26%, to 29,628.74, while the Nifty 50 of the NSE is trading lower by 9.10 points, or 0.10%, to 9,189.20.
Infosys Ltd fell 1.7% to Rs964.95. The company will announce its March quarter earnings on Thursday. According to 24 Bloomberg analyst estimates, the company may post net profit of Rs3,564.10 crore, while net sales will be at Rs17,283.70 crore.
Tata Motors Ltd rose 2% to Rs476.50. Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Friday reported its best-ever annual retail sales of 6,04,009 units in the financial year ended 31 March, 2017, up 16% from the year-ago period.
■ 2pm: The Indian rupee on Monday weakened against the US dollar, after local equity markets fell for the third consecutive sessions. The home currency was trading at 64.48, down 0.32% from its Friday’s close of 64.28. The rupee opened at 64.31 a dollar and touched a low of 64.59.
■ 1.30pm: The BSE Sensex is currently trading lower by 92.40 points, or 0.031%, to 29,614.21, while the Nifty 50 of the NSE is lower by 14.60 points, or 0.16%, to 9,183.70.
■ 12.40pm: The BSE Sensex is currently trading lower by 25.31 points, or 0.09%, to 29,681.30, while the Nifty 50 of the NSE is higher by 2.20 points, or 0.02%, to 9,200.50.
Also read | Yield-hungry India investors look to whet appetite with equities
■ 11.30am: The BSE Sensex is currently trading higher by 30.14 points, or 0.10%, to 29,736.75, while the Nifty 50 of the NSE rises 16.85 points, or 0.18%, to 9,215.15.
Housing finance companies trading lower. Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd fell 2.1%, Repco Home Finance Ltd fell 2%, Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd 0.7%.
Adani Transmission Ltd rose 5.4% to Rs85.70. The stock gained for the fifth consecutive sessions and climbed 33% in this period. So far this year it gained 50%.
■ 10.30am: The BSE Sensex is currently trading higher by 21.89 points, or 0.07%, to 29,728.50, while the Nifty 50 of the NSE rises 8.80 points, or 0.10%, to 9,207.10.
■ 10.15am: Sobha Ltd fell 8% to Rs383.40 after its promoter Sobha Menon sold 4% stake or 4 million shares of the company via block deal on 7 April.
Religare Enterprises Ltd rose 2.5% to Rs223.80 after the company on Sunday announced the sale of its 80% stake in Religare Health Insurance Co. Ltd (RHI) to a group of investors led by True North.
Also read | Religare sells 80% stake in health insurance arm to True North, others
Banking stocks trading higher. Corporation Bank rose 1.3%, Karnataka Bank rose 1.3%, Uco Bank 1.1%, South Indian Bank 1%, City Union Bank 1%, Axis Bank 1%, Dena Bank 0.8%.
Reliance Communications Ltd fell 2.2% to Rs38.35 after ICRA downgraded its long-term fund-based/non fund-based limits to BBB from BBB+.
■ 10.10am: The BSE Sensex is currently trading higher by 39.26 points, or 0.13%, to 27,745.87, while the Nifty 50 of the NSE rises 11.80 points, or 0.13%, to 9,210.10.
■ 9.40am: RBL Bank Ltd, formerly known as Ratnakar Bank, on Monday entered the list of India’s 10 most valuable banks. RBL Bank stock was trading at new record high of Rs 573.05 on the BSE, up 3% from its previous close. Read more
■ 9.30am: NIIT Ltd fell 10% to Rs75 after its chief executive officer Rahul Keshav Patwardhan resigned.
Dilip Buildcon Ltd rose 1.5% to Rs360.80 after the company said it won order worth Rs580.50 crore.
■ 9.25am: Welspun India Ltd rose 5.8% to Rs 89.05 after broking firm Credit Suisse has upgraded to outperform. The target price is Rs 115 per share.
Madhucon Projects Ltd rose 5.4% to Rs49.65 after the company said it won Rs173 crore order to build road.
Neuland Laboratories Ltd fell 3% to Rs1,480 after US drug regulator’s two observation under form 483 in its Hyderabad Plant.
Also read | India is one of world’s most expensive stock markets
■ 9.20am: The 10-year bond yield was trading at 6.836% compared to its previous close of 6.821%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
■ 9.15am: The Indian rupee on Monday weakened marginally against the US dollar tracking losses in its Asian peers. The rupee opened at 64.31 a dollar. At 9.15am, the home currency was trading at 64.34, down 0.09% from its Friday’s close of 64.28. So far this year, the rupee has gained 5.7%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $6.93 billion and $6.07 billion from local equity and debt markets, respectively. Read more
■ 9am: On Friday, soft US jobs data and the decision by President Donald Trump to authorize the firing of US missiles into Syria weighed on global stock markets. The strikes though pushed gold prices higher as investors sought out the sanctuary of supposedly safe haven assets in a time of geopolitical uncertainty.
The news that the US economy only generated 98,000 jobs last month stoked some concerns about the state of the world’s largest economy following some recent bumper gains.
Also read | Q4 earnings, macro data likely to give direction to markets this week
Oil prices jumped on concerns the airstrikes would re-ignite Middle East turmoil, the world’s major oil-producing region. US benchmark crude added 37 cents to trade near one-month highs of $52.07 a barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, rose 27 cents to $55.16 a barrel in London.
Wall Street was poised for a lower opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures down 0.2%.
In Asia-Pacific markets, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4% to end at 18,664.63 after dipping earlier in the day. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.2% to 3,286.62. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.1% to 2,151.73. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was almost flat at 24,267.30 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 recouped earlier losses to end 0.1% higher at 5,862.50. Southeast Asian indexes were mixed.
The euro was flat at $1.0640 while the dollar fell 0.4% to 110.35 yen.
