Key indices were range bound near the day's low in early afternoon trade. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 94.12 points or 0.26% at 35,551.28. The Nifty 50 index was down 29.90 points or 0.28% at 10,740. Investors were cautious ahead of a deadline when tariffs from the US and China are due to be enforced.
Trading was volatile. The indices hit fresh intraday high in early trade. After some range bound trading, the indices declined and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. The Sensex rose 102.86 points, or 0.29% at the day's high of 35,748.26 in early trade. The index fell 122.52 points, or 0.34% at the day's low of 35,522.88 in mid-morning trade. The Nifty rose 16.15 points, or 0.15% at the day's high of 10,786.05 in early trade. The index fell 43.65 points, or 0.41% at the day's low of 10,726.25 in mid-morning trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.45%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.31%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 975 shares rose and 1300 shares fell. A total of 145 shares were unchanged.
Most cement shares rose. ACC (up 2.61%), Ambuja Cements (up 2.41%) and UltraTech Cement (up 2.39%), edged higher.
Grasim Industries was down 1.15%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Most telecom shares declined. Bharti Airtel (down 0.97%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 0.44%) and Idea Cellular (down 0.27%), edged lower. Reliance Communications was up 0.95%.
Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was down 0.57%.
Reliance Industries (RIL) was flat at Rs 990. Mukesh Ambani at the company's annual general meeting today, 5 July 2018, unveiled 'Jio GigaFiber', its much-awaited fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband services. JioGigaFiber broadband will to come with a set top box for TV. It will have enabled voice command feature for TV. Besides, it will also have a TV calling feature. The company, meanwhile, launched JioPhone 2 with advanced features. The mobile phone will be available alongside the JioPhone already available in the market. JioPhone is a feature phone launched by Reliance Jio last year with an effective price of 'zero'. The company said it is targeting 100 million users on JioPhone in shortest time. JioPhone generates more than 20 crore voice commands every month, Isha Ambani said. Ambanis said the company will launch three of the world's most popular apps Facebook, Whatsapp and Youtube on Jiophones. The company also announced JioPhone 2 with advanced features. The phone will be available for Rs 2,999 effective 15 August 2018.
Meanwhile, RIL during trading hours today, 5 July 2018, that Reliance Brands, a subsidiary of the company, has purchased 12.5% equity stake in Future101 Design (Future101) for Rs 9.50 crore. The acquisition of minority stake is in the nature of strategic investment. Future101, incorporated in July 2013 is engaged in manufacturing, distribution and sale of luxury apparels, etc. in India. Future101 belongs to a similar industry as Reliance Brands Limited. RIL expects growth in this sector and value creation from this investment. Future101 reported annual turnover of Rs 22.18 crore, Rs 20.85 crore and Rs 17.11 crore in FY 2017-18, FY 2016-17 and FY 2015-16, respectively. No regulatory approvals were required for the said acquisition of shares. The investment does not fall within related party transaction and none of RIL's promoter/promoter group/group companies have interest in Future101.
Overseas, Asian markets were trading lower as investors searched for direction ahead of a deadline when tariffs from the US and China are due to be implemented. A looming 6 July 2018 deadline is set to see the US impose a 25% tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods from more than 800 product categories. China has also announced that it will retaliate with duties on the same value of US products. US stock market was shut on Wednesday for the Independence Day holiday.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)