Sensex down 96 pts; media shares under pressure

Benchmark indices traded with small losses in the mid-morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 19,400 level. Media stocks declined for four consecutive trading sessions.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 96.17 points or 0.15% to 64,736.03. The Nifty 50 index lost 23.05 points or 0.12% to 19,372.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.01% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.28%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,812 shares rose and 1,634 shares fell. A total of 152 shares were unchanged.

New Listing:

Shares of ESAF Small Finance Bank were currently trading at Rs 69.20 at 11:26 IST on the BSE, representing a premium of 15.33% as compared with the issue price of Rs 60.

The scrip was listed at Rs 71.90, exhibiting a premium of 19.83% to the issue price. So far, the stock has hit a high of 74.70 and a low of 69.01. On the BSE, over 38.10 lakh shares of the company were traded in the counter so far.

Earnings Today:

Life Insurance Corporation of India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco Industries, Coal India, Hindustan Aeronautics, 3M India, Steel Authority of India, Biocon, Sun TV Network, Ipca Laboratories, Tata Chemicals, Timken India, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Housing & Urban Development Corp, Hindustan Copper, Shyam Metalics and Energy, Swan Energy, ESAB India, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, PTC Industries, HMT, Edelweiss Financial Services, Techno Electric & Engineering Co, Jai Corp, TechnoCraft Industries (India), Ahluwalia Contracts (India), PTC India, Hemisphere Properties India, Time Technoplast, Kovai Medical Center & HospItal, Optiemus Infracom, Apollo Micro Systems, BF Utilities, Ashiana Housing, Foseco India, and Piccadilly Agro Industries will announce their quarter results later today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index fell 0.64% to 2,245.70. The index slipped 1.59% in four trading sessions.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 1.62%), TV18 Broadcast (down 1.07%), Dish TV India (down 0.56%), Network 18 Media & Investments (down 0.56%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 0.54%), Sun TV Network (down 0.25%) and Nazara Technologies (down 0.11%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals (GSK Pharma) added 1.68% after the company�s net profit rose 11.36% to Rs 215.54 crore in Q2 FY24 as against Rs 193.56 crore recorded in Q2 FY23. Revenue from operations grew by 5.27% year on year to Rs 953.38 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2023.

Piramal Enterprises slipped 4.35%. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 48.19 crore in Q2 FY24 as against net loss of Rs 1,536.39 crore reported in Q2 FY23. Total income fell 3% to Rs 914 crore in Q2 FY24 as compared with Rs 943 crore posted in corresponding quarter last year.

Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) declined 2.15%. The company reported 3.42% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 394.26 crore in Q2 FY24 as compared with Rs 381.22 crore in Q2 FY23. Revenue from operations increased marginally to Rs 4,914.32 crore in Q2 FY24 from Rs 4,908.90 crore reported in Q2 FY23.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks tumbled across the board on Friday, retreating from small gains made in the previous session amid a downbeat tone set by U.S. markets overnight.

US stocks declined on Thursday, effectively ending the S&P 500`s eight day win streak that delivered a gain of more than 6%. The decline in stocks came after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made hawkish comments during a panel discussion at an International Monetary Fund conference.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a speech Thursday that the central bank thinks more may be needed to bring down inflation. �The Federal Open Market Committee is committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2% over time; we are not confident that we have achieved such a stance,� he said in his prepared speech.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News