Volatility ruled the roost in afternoon trade as the key benchmark indices once again regained positive zone soon after erasing intraday gains. At 13:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 77.16 points or 0.21% at 37,052.39. The Nifty 50 index was up 20.30 points or 0.18% at 11,082.75. The Sensex was currently trading above the 37,000 mark after opening above that level.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.99%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.77%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1315 shares rose and 1013 shares fell. A total of 150 shares were unchanged.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 4.9%), Bajaj Auto (up 2.8%), Tata Motors (up 2.08%), Hero MotoCorp (up 2.01%) and Yes Bank (up 1.62%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Reliance Industries (down 1.25%), HDFC (down 0.62%) and ONGC (down 0.58%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
GAIL (India) fell 0.63%. The company has offloaded the pipe laying contract from IL&FS due to poor project progress driven on account of acute financial crisis. The Bokaro -Durgapur section (124 kms) is now re-tendered and awarded to three different contractors to expedite construction efforts for hooking up supply network to the fertilizer, city gas distribution and other industrial consumers. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 6 February 2019.
Cipla rose 0.99%. Cipla before market hours today announced that it has received final approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Tadalafil Tablets 20mg from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA).
Cipla's Tadalafil Tablets 20mg is AB-rated generic therapeutic equivalent version of Eli Lilly & Co.'s Adcirca. It is a phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitor indicated for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) (WHO Group 1) to improve exercise ability. According to IQVIA (IMS Health), Adcirca and its generic equivalents had US sales of approximately $490M for the 12-month period ending November 2018. The product is available for shipping immediately.
On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation at its meeting today, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 6.5% to 6.25% with immediate effect. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6.0%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.5%.
The MPC also decided to change the monetary policy stance from calibrated tightening to neutral. These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2%, while supporting growth.
On the economic front, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved establishment of a unified authority for regulating all financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in India through International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019. The first IFSC in India has been set up at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
Overseas, stocks in Asia traded mixed on Thursday, while US-China trade hopes are up as negotiations are set to continue.
US stocks closed lower Wednesday, with the S&P 500 snapping a five-day winning streak, after President Donald Trump's State of the Union address offered few details on his economic agenda. The president, however, insisted China commit to real, structural economic reforms before a trade deal can be reached.
On the data front, US manufacturing productivity rose 1.3% in the fourth quarter, up from 1.1% growth in the third quarter, the Labor Department reported. The US trade deficit in November fell to $49.3 billion, below the October level of $55.5 billion in October.
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