Key benchmark indices hovered with modest losses in afternoon trade after hitting day's low in early afternoon trade. At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 276.96 points or 0.82% at 33,408.58. The Nifty 50 index dropped 87.50 points or 0.84% at 10,272.65. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC and ITC dropped. Weakness in Asian stocks weighed on sentiment on the domestic bourses.
Trading for the day began on a dull note as the key benchmark indices edged lower in early trade on negative Asian stocks. Indices extended slide to hit day's low in early afternoon trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.49%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index dropped 0.28%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1,529 shares declined and 1,000 shares advanced. A total of 153 shares were unchanged.
IT stocks declined. TCS (down 1.02%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.92%), Infosys (down 0.52%), Persistent Systems (down 0.36%) and HCL Technologies (down 0.27%) edged lower.
Wipro rose 0.32% after the company said it invested $2.02 million in Avaamo Inc, an artificial intelligence-based conversational computing platform. The company said the investment would give Wipro a minority stake of less than 20% on a fully diluted basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 15 March 2018.
In a regulatory filing, the company stated that it made strategic investment of $2.02 million in the current tranche. This along with further infusion of funds and conversion of convertible note issued earlier will take the total investment to $3.02 million, Wipro said.
According to the company, the cash deal was completed on 14 March 2018. Headquartered at Los Altos in the US, the company is founded in 2014. Avaamo Inc provides an artificial intelligence (AI) driven enterprise bot platform that simplifies the time needed to design and deploy enterprise bots to corporate employees and their customers.
Realty stocks were mixed. Prestige Estates Projects (up 3.12%), Unitech (up 2.72%), DLF (up 1.15%), HDIL (up 0.7%) and Indiabulls Real Estate (up 0.05%) edged higher. Oberoi Realty (down 2.37%), D B Realty (down 1.36%), Sobha (down 0.32%) and Godrej Properties (down 0.16%) edged lower.
Meanwhile, India's trade deficit for February 2018 was estimated at $11,979.21 million, 25.8% higher than the $9,521.73-million deficit reported during February 2017, government data released after market hours yesterday, 15 March 2018 showed. Exports during February 2018 stood at $25,834.36 million compared to $24,726.71 million during February 2017. Imports during February 2018 were pegged at $37,813.57 million, compared to $34,248.44 million in February 2017.
On the political front, Andhra Pradesh's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) reportedly pulled out of its alliance with the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. The N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP, as well as other local parties, expressed their discontent over Centre not granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
Overseas, most Asian stocks fell as weak volumes in the US session overnight gave little impetus for traders ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting. US stocks ended mixed yesterday, 15 March 2018 as industrial and tech gains were offset by losses in the consumer and energy sector.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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