Closing Bell: Monday blues on D-Street! Sensex ends over 200 points lower, Nifty gives up 11,400; IT, pharma gain

With that, it is a wrap on the live coverage of all D-Street action on Monday. Stay logged on to www.moneycontrol.com for all news, views and analysis from the world of markets.

Looks like equities had a case of Monday blues as benchmarks ended the day on a lower note, courtesy a fall in banks as well as a weak rupee. The Indian currency fell on the back of a sharp drop in Turkish lira against the US dollar. As a result, it had a negative impact on other emerging market currencies and that lead to a fall in the rupee as well on fears of a spill-over effect.

The Nifty managed to give up 11,400-mark, while the Sensex fell over half a percent.

Following results of State Bank of India (SBI), banking stocks fell sharply on Monday, continuing its nervous momentum from Friday. The Bank Nifty ended over a percent lower, while the Nifty PSU bank index fell over 2.5 percent. What aided to the negative sentiment was a weak phase in midcaps too. The Nifty midcap index fell almost a percent. Among other losers were metals, auto and energy names.

The only sectors to shine during the day’s trade were the traditional defensives. Weak rupee ensured a good boost to information technology (IT) stocks, while pharmaceuticals too had a good day of trade, led by a surge in Sun Pharmaceuticals.

At the close of market hours, Sensex closed down 224.33 points or 0.59% at 37644.90, while the Nifty fell 73.70 points or 0.64% at 11355.80. The market breadth is negative as 963 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,716 shares, while 161 shares were unchanged.

Among stocks, Infosys, Sun Pharma, GAIL and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers, while Yes Bank, Vedanta, BPCL and HPCL lost the most among both indices.

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A recovery in midcaps and further strengthening in IT and pharma has helped equity benchmarks cut a chunk of its losses. The Sensex is down over 100 points, while the Nifty is around 11,400-mark.

The Sensex is down 145.41 points or 0.38% at 37723.82, while the Nifty is down 45.50 points or 0.40% at 11384.00. The market breadth is negative as 976 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,558 shares, while 152 shares were unchanged.

Banks continue to be the top losers, dragging the market lower, along with metals, auto and energy names. Both Nifty pharma and IT are up over a percent.

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Deutsche Bank has maintained hold on Voltas and raised target to Rs 500 from Rs 490 per share.

This is a strong outcome in a tough environment. Its projects business is strong, said Deutsche Bank.

Worst is not over for cooling business and expect margin to be decline, while cooling business valuations look high, but at discount to peers, research house further added.

At 13:39 hrs Voltas was quoting at Rs 622.95, up Rs 2.80, or 0.45 percent.

: The company has minimised its losses in the quarter ended June 2018. It has reported Q1FY19 net loss was at Rs 12 crore versus loss of Rs 21.7 crore, in a year ago period.

Revenue of the company was up 4 percent at Rs 212.5 crore against Rs 204.2 crore.Operating profit or EBITDA was at Rs 6.5 crore against EBITDA loss of Rs 3.5 crore.

At 13:23 hrs Indoco Remedies was quoting at Rs 192.25, up Rs 4.30, or 2.29 percent.

Emerging market currencies have declined sharply as Turkish lira has fallen to all time low level after US president Donald Trump imposed sanctions and tariffs on Turkey.

"The crisis is unlikely to resolve anytime soon. An absence of aggressive intervention by the RBI has also hurt the rupee. Market is nervous ahead of India’s CPI data due later today,"Rushabh Maru - Research Analyst , Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokerssaid.

He further said the dollar has strengthened to multi-month high on expectations of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in coming months as the US economy is experiencing strong growth momentum. Hence, due to all these factors, the rupee has declined to all time low level today, he added.

GAIL’s stock rose a little over 4 percent on Monday morning as investors cheered its good results for the quarter.

The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 378.60 and an intraday low of Rs 362.80.

Brokerage house JPMorgan has maintained a neutral stance on the stock and raised target to Rs 360 from Rs 330. It observed that strong crude drove record marketing EBITDA. Potential near-term catalyst is tariff hikes

CLSA has maintained a buy call on the stock and raised target to Rs 435 from Rs 405. It said that the June quarter was a beat on all fronts. US LNG drives sharply higher gas trading profits and lower operating expenditure. All segments outperformed other than gas transmission, it added.

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