The Sensex and the Nifty pared losses after hitting fresh intraday low in mid afternoon trade. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 170.82 points or 0.41% at 39,044.82. The Nifty 50 index was down 52.50 points or 0.45% at 11,635.50.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.96%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.91%.
The market breadth was tilted in favour of sellers. On the BSE, 700 shares rose and 1666 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.
SpiceJet (down 0.07%) and IndiGo (down 0.79%) declined. Aviation regulator DGCA has conducted safety audits of Air India Express, SpiceJet, AirAsia, IndiGo and GoAir and it found the implementation of their safety management system to be deficient, the government informed Rajya Sabha yesterday.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the audits also found that the flight crew rostering software was not upgraded and untrained staff was manning check-in counters. The other staff at check-in counters too did not have adequate knowledge to handle dangerous goods despite being trained in Dangerous Good Regulations, he said in a written response to a question in the upper house. The minister said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has directed the airlines to take corrective action regarding the deficiencies found during the audit.
Most FMCG stocks fell. Jyothy Laboratories (down 1.62%), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (down 1.16%), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.16%), Marico (down 0.7%), Dabur India (down 0.44%), Bajaj Corp (down 0.43%), Tata Global Beverages (down 0.35%) and Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (down 0.11%) declined.
Britannia Industries (up 1.37%) and Godrej Consumer Products (up 0.37%) advanced.
Colgate-Palmolive (India) was up 3.35% after the company announced its Q1 June 2019 result during market hours today, 18 July 2019. Colgate-Palmolive (India)'s net profit fell 10.76% to Rs 169.11 crore on a 4.72% rise in the total income to Rs 1,100.03 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018.
In a separate announcement during market hours today, Colgate-Palmolive (India) said that it has appointed Ram Raghavan as managing director of the company with effect from 1 August 2019.
Nestle India was down 0.91%. The company announced after market hours yesterday, 17 July 2019, that MAGGI Fusian - the range of Asian flavor inspired noodles, have garnered overwhelming consumer response on Amazon Prime Days, witnessing an equivalent of 2.5 lakh single units being sold over a two day period, with orders coming from 29 states of India.
Market research firm Nielsen has reportedly lowered its growth target for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector on Wednesday, 17 July 2019. The firm has estimated growth in 2019 to be in the 9-10% range for 2019 as against 11-12% estimated earlier, citing macroeconomic factors such as slowing growth and the impact of a deficient monsoon. The lowering of the sales forecast for India's packaged goods sector as consumption cooled for the third straight quarter, led by a sharp rural slowdown.
Bharat Heavy Electricals was down 0.16%. The company during market hours today, 18 July 2019, announced that it has won an order for emission control equipment from Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company (BRBCL), a joint venture of NTPC and Indian Railways. Valued at about Rs.750 crore, the order involves supply and installation of flue gas desulphurization (FGD) system at 4x250 MW Nabinagar project of BRBCL in Aurangabad district of Bihar.
D B Corp was up 3.46% after the company announced its Q1 June 2019 result during market hours today, 18 July 2019. On a consolidated basis, D B Corp's net profit fell 3.94% to Rs 93.72 crore on a 4.39% fall in the total income to Rs 611.15 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018.
Asian Development Bank on 18 July 2019 lowered India's GDP growth forecast to 7% for the current year on the back of fiscal shortfall concerns. India is expected to grow by 7% in 2019 (FY20) and 7.2% in 2020 (FY21), slightly slower than projected in April because the fiscal 2018 outturn fell short, ADB said in its supplement to the Asian Development Outlook 2019. For the south Asian region, ADB said the outlook remains robust, with growth projected at 6.6% in 2019 and 6.7% in 2020.
Further, India's external sector position in 2018 was broadly in line with the level implied by fundamentals and desirable policies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), noted in its latest External Sector Report. India's current account (CA) deficit grew to $68 billion in 2018-19 from $49 billion the previous year while India's net international investment position marginally improved with the deficit coming down from $438 billion in 2017-18 to $431 billion in 2018-19. India's overall international reserves, though stood at $411.9 billion at the end of March this year, down from March last year by $12.5 billion, IMF noted.
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.379% at 14:19 IST compared with 6.345% at close in the previous trading session.
A foreign bank said on Wednesday, 17 July 2019, that government is likely to limit its overseas bond sale at $5 billion this year, but suggested hiking the cap on foreign funds' investment in domestic debt is a better option considering the huge the risks involved in the former. The potential pitfalls of such an issuance include exchange rate risks being borne by the government, small net savings on cost because of hedging requirements, exposing the domestic financial system to external volatilities and cannibalising portfolio debt flows, it said.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 68.895, compared with its close of 68.825 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 August 2019 settlement fell 0.09% at Rs 35,058.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for September 2019 settlement was down 9 cents at $63.57 a barrel. The contract fell 69 cents or 1.07% to settle at $63.66 a barrel in the previous trading session.
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