Weak market breadth

Stocks cut losses after hitting fresh intraday low in afternoon trade. At 13:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 86.45 points or 0.25% at 34,359.30. The Nifty 50 index was down 29.30 points or 0.28% at 10,553.30. Auto and telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Negative Asian stocks dampened sentiment on the domestic bourses.

Trading was quite volatile. After opening on a firm note, key benchmark indices reversed trend and hit fresh intraday low in morning trade. Buying support at lower levels, however, helped the key indices pare losses in mid-morning trade. Stocks extended fall in early afternoon trade.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 1,607 shares fell and 967 shares rose.

A total of 142 shares were unchanged. Breadth was quite strong in early trade. It was negative till early afternoon trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.39%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.19%, outperforming the Sensex.

Auto stocks saw mixed trend. Escorts (down 1.39%), Tata Motors (down 0.04%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.64%), Eicher Motors (down 0.11%) and TVS Motor Company (down 0.34%) fell.

Bajaj Auto (up 1.09%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.04%) and Ashok Leyland (up 0.18%) rose.

Mahindra & Mahindra was up 0.39% after the company announced collaboration with LG Chem, in the field of advanced Li-ion battery technology. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 26 February 2018.

LG Chem is Korea's leading manufacturer of advanced batteries. Under the aegis of this collaboration, LG Chem will develop a unique cell exclusively for India application and will also supply Li-ion cells based on NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) chemistry with high energy density. These cells will be deployed in the Mahindra and SsangYong range of electric vehicles (EVs). LG Chem will also design the Li-ion battery modules for Mahindra Electric, which in turn will create battery packs for the Mahindra Group and other customers.

In keeping with the investment plan already announced by Mahindra last year, a battery module plant is also under development. The plant will have a capacity of half a million battery modules per annum and will also house a battery module pack line and the entire facility for both module and pack is expected to go into production in the last quarter of FY 2020.

Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Bharti Airtel (up 1.36%), Idea Cellular (up 2.62%) and MTNL (up 0.44%) rose. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 2.03%) and Reliance Communications (down 4.87%) fell.

Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 0.07%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Orient Cement lost 2.53% to Rs 158.25, with the stock sliding on profit booking after recent rally. Shares of Orient Cement had rallied 12.66% in the previous three trading sessions to settle at Rs 162.35 yesterday, 26 February 2018, from its close of Rs 144.10 on 21 February 2018.

On the macro front, some media reports suggested that the government is planning to ease rules for foreign portfolio investors (FPI), as it seeks to attract more investments into India. As part of the plan, the government will reportedly reduce the time required for FPIs to register in India, introduce a single-window clearance for them and allow foreign banks to trade on behalf of their clients without registering.

Overseas, most Asian shares reversed early gains and were trading lower ahead of US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's highly anticipated testimony later in the day.

The US market rose on Monday, 26 February 2018, in a broad-based rally led by technology shares. In the latest economic data, US new home sales fell 7.8% in January 2018 from the previous month, to an annualised pace of 593,000, the Commerce Department said.

Investors are focusing on the US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's congressional testimony on monetary policy and the economy. Powell will testify on the central bank's semi-annual report on monetary policy and the economy on Tuesday, 27 February 2018, before the US House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)