Live: Sensex Drops Over 450 Points; Nifty Below 11,700
Market Check: Sensex, Nifty Trade Lower
Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower, extended their declines for the second consecutive trading session.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.92 percent to 39,149.74 as of 10 a.m. after falling over 450 points intraday and the NSE Nifty 50 traded below 11,700, down 0.96 percent.
The market breadth was tilted in favour of sellers. About 1,280 stocks declined and 332 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.
F&O Check: Nifty 11,800 Call Option Falls 73%
Nifty’s 11,800 call option contract was among the most active Nifty option contracts on National Stock Exchange.
Premium on the weekly contract which is set to expire Thursday fell 73 percent to Rs 19.85. Over 15.82 lakh shares were added to the open interest which stood at over 22.46 lakh shares.
Markets Could See Further Pressure In Near-Term, Avinash Gorakshakar Says
Indian markets could see further pressure in the near term on the downside with the poor financials expected in the first half of the current financial year, Joindre Capital Services’ Research Head Avinash Gorakshakar said.
“The markets are also concerned on recent global news flows like Morgan Stanley’s downgrade on global equities and Deutsche Bank’s exit from Asia,” Gorakshakar told BloombergQuint.
Besides, the news flow from the Federal Reserve is not encouraging, he said.
Commenting on the Union Budget outcome, Gorakshakar said that it was ‘not market friendly’ and nothing turned out positive for the investors.
“The biggest negative has been on the tax on buybacks, which will hit sentiments here bad as companies will now avoid buybacks as it becomes tax unfriendly. Besides, the proposal to raise the minimum public shareholding limit to 35 percent,” Gorakshakar said.
On the June quarter earnings forecast, he said, “We expect very few positive surprises from few sectors but broadly the earnings growth across sectors largely will be under pressure as demand is weak and no major improvements are expected until Sept 2019.”
Yes Bank Top Performer On Sensex, Nifty
Shares of Yes Bank halted their four-day losing streak. The stock rose as much as 7 percent to Rs 94.35.
The Mumbai-based lender refuted speculations over the lender’s board and management stability, asset portfolio, future growth prospects, among other things which have emerged over the past few weeks, according to its statement on the exchanges.
“We suspect it is a deliberate and malicious attempt to create instability in the institution by undermining investor and client confidence. We have apprised the authorities of these developments,” Yes Bank said.
Besides, the company said that its financial position is sound and stable and its liquidity and operating performance continue to be robust.
The stock declined 14 percent in the past five days and dropped 33 percent in the past 30 days, according to Bloomberg data.
Mindtree Falls After Top Executive Quits
Shares of Mindtree extended declines for the fourth consecutive trading session. The stock fell 3.8 percent to Rs 831.55 as of 9:40 a.m. The scrip is currently trading ex-dividend.
The company’s CEO and Managing Director Rostow Ravanan resigned. Krishnakumar Natarajan too resigned as executive chairman. Besides, NS Parthasarathy resigned as executive vice chairman and chief operating officer. They will continue to stay as board members and employees till July 17, in-line with their contracts.
The Relative Strength Index was below 30, indicating that the stock may be oversold, according to Bloomberg data.
Punjab National Bank Falls The Most In Nearly Two Months
Shares of Punjab National Bank fell as much as 7.5 percent, the most since May 13, to Rs 75.70.
The state-run lender aid that it has detected a fraud of over Rs 3,800 crore by Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd., according to its stock exchange filing. (More details here)
Trading volume was more than eight times its 20-day average, Bloomberg data showed. The stock was the worst performer on the NSE Nifty PSU Bank Index.