Fresh selling in index pivotals pulled the key benchmark indices to intraday low in early afternoon trade. At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 212.22 points or 0.59% at 36,042.35. The Nifty 50 index was down 70.10 points or 0.64% at 10,840. Auto stocks dropped. Negative Asian stocks weighed on the domestic bourses.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was off 0.46%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was off 0.18%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, once again turned negative from positive. On the BSE, 989 shares rose and 1248 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.

Auto stocks dropped. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (down 4.11%), Eicher Motors (down 6.62%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.97%), Escorts (down 0.78%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.07%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.39%) and TVS Motor Company (down 1.11%) declined.

Tata Motors lost 2.07%. The trend of muted consumer sentiments continued in December 2018, impacting the sales performance of Tata Motors commercial and passenger vehicles business in the domestic market, which dropped by 8% at 50,440 units as against 54,627. In December 2018, liquidity crisis in the industry, higher interest rates and rising fuel costs continued to impact the commercial vehicle sales, with M&HCV (medium and heavy commercial vehicle) and I&LCV (intermediate and light commercial vehicles) segment witnessing a decline while the passenger vehicle business bounced back.

Tata Motors' sales from exports (from CV and PV) in December 2018 was at 3,999 units as against 6,293 units in December 2017, lower by 36%, due to sharp TIV (total industry volume) contraction in Bangladesh due to elections and political uncertainty in Sri Lanka.

Ashok Leyland fell 2.78% after total sales fell 20% to 15,493 units in December 2018 over December 2017. Ashok Leyland's sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV) rose 27% to 4,198 units, while sales of medium & heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) fell 29% to 11,295 units in December 2018 over December 2017. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 2 January 2019.

MOIL fell 0.93%. MOIL announced that in line with the business practice of fixing/revising prices Manganese Ore, the company has fixed/revised prices of different grades of Manganese Ore, effective from 1 January 2019. The prices of Ferro Grade, SMGR (Mn 30% & Mn 25%), Chemical Grade and Fines have been decreased by about 10% on the existing prices prevailing since 1 December 2018. On select grades of non-moving low grade manganese ore, a discount of 10% has been offered for the dispatches during the January 2019.

Further, on select grades of non-moving low grade manganese ore, MOIL has offered bulk quantity discount ranging from 5% to 20%. The basic price of Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide (EMD) has been increased by Rs 10,000 PMT on the existing price prevailing since 1 October 2018. Ferro Manganese/ Ferro Manganese Slag and some identified grades of Manganese Ore will continue to be sold on e-auction basis as well as through Metal Mandi (M3) of MSTC. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 January 2019.

Bank of Maharashtra rose 0.91%. Bank of Maharashtra announced that its board will meet on 4 January 2019, to consider the proposal of raising of equity capital aggregating to Rs 4498 crore by way of preferential allotment of shares to Government of India (GOI) subject to necessary approvals/ permissions. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 January 2019.

On the macro front, the health of India's manufacturing economy improved further at the end of the year, as companies continued to scale up production and employment in response to strong inflows of new business, data released today showed. Posting 53.2 in December, from 54 in November, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was consistent with a further improvement in operating conditions across the sector.

Overseas, Asian stocks kicked off 2019 on a muted note, with a holiday in Japan dampening volumes, as evidence of slowing Chinese growth weighed on investors.

China's factory activity contracted for the first time in 19 months in December as domestic and export orders continued to weaken, data released today showed. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.7 in December from 50.2 in November, marking the first contraction since May 2017.

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