Stock Market Updates: Analysts awaited more large cap companies to report their July-September earnings
Here are 10 things to know about the markets today:
At 10:56 am, the Sensex traded 118.60 points - or 0.29 per cent - lower at 40,676.14, while the Nifty was down 36.20 points - or 0.30 per cent - at 11,934.85.
Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Wipro, Infosys and TCS, trading between 1.56 per cent and 3.95 per cent lower, were the worst hit among 24 laggards in the 50-scrip Nifty index. On the other hand, Asian Paints, HDFC and Hero MotoCorp, up 1.74 per cent, 1.72 per cent and 1.61 per cent respectively, were the top Nifty gainers.
Overall market breadth was neutral, as 880 stocks rose on the NSE against 832 that fell. Infosys, TCS and Reliance Industries were the biggest drags on Sensex.
Infosys shares traded 1 per cent lower at Rs 1,124.85 at the time, having risen as much as 4.30 per cent earlier, a day after the country's second largest IT services exporter raised its annual revenue growth forecast and posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit. Growth in demand for Infosys's digital services during the pandemic boosted its profitability.
Banking and financial services shares recovered early losses, providing some support to the markets. The Nifty Bank index - comprising stocks of 12 major lenders in the country - climbed up as much as 0.89 per cent, led by gains in private sector lenders Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court said any delay in implementing a waiver on "interest on interest" on loans up to Rs 2 crore is not in the interest of the common man. "Common man's Diwali is now in the government's hands," the bench said, , expressing hope that orders will be out before the next hearing, listed for November 2.
The top court was hearing a batch of petitions on whether banks should levy compound interest on borrowers choosing to defer their loan repayments during the coronavirus pandemic.
The NSE's India VIX index - which gauges the expectation of volatility in the near term - rose as much as 1.66 per cent in the first half of the session.
Other Asian markets fell amid fading hopes of US fiscal stimulus before the presidential election and a record number of new coronavirus infections in parts of Europe.
Downbeat comments from US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that a stimulus deal was unlikely be made before the November 3 vote weighed on fragile investor sentiment. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last seen trading down 0.79 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark down 0.46 per cent.
