Sensex closes 21 points lower to 33,756, Nifty at 10,440 level; M&M, Maruti, HUL top losers

The Sensex and Nifty closed lower in volatile trade after Asian stocks ended mostly down tracking flat US market overnight. While Sensex fell 21 points to 33,756 points, Nifty was down 4 points to 10,440.

Here are the key highlights, which affected the market today.

3:45 pm: Market breadth was positive with 1,699 stocks closing higher against 1015 ending lower on BSE.

 

3:30 pm: M&M closes 3.74% or 28 points lower on BSE.  Stock top Sensex loser on profit booking.

2:00 pm: The commerce and industry ministry today said a total of 5,350 startups have been recognised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for availing benefits under the Startup India initiative.

1:30 pm: India is expected to be a $6.5-7 trillion economy by 2030, and at the current exchange rate it would touch $10 trillion by 2035-40, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Bibek Debroy said.

1:00 pm: HDFC Capital said it has raised $1 billion to create a real estate fund that would invest in affordable and mid-income housing projects in the top 15 cities of the country.

12: 30 pm: Food inflation, led by vegetables, remains highly variable and there are several risks to projected inflation trajectory, the minutes of the December MPC meeting of RBI showed.

11: 45 am: Astron Paper and Board Mills' initial public offer (IPO) was subscribed 243.20 times so far on the last day of bidding on Wednesday. The IPO to raise Rs 70 crore received bids for 3,40,48,47,040 shares against the total issue size of 1,40,00,000 shares, data available with the NSE till 2000 hrs showed.

11: 15 am: As many as 153 initial public offers hit the Indian stock market this year, raising USD 11.6 billion, according to an EY report that says activity "looks good" for 2018 as well. According to the report released today, the fourth quarter (October-December) of this year saw 22 IPOs hitting the market, an increase of 47 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-O-Q) in terms of number of deals.

11: 00 am: The Reserve Bank of India's policy rates are likely to remain unchanged in 2018 despite higher inflation, a recovering growth and elevated oil prices, says a Nomura report. According to the Japanese financial services major, strengthening of the growth recovery could push a few Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members towards a "tightening bias".

10:45 am: Mortgage firm PNB Housing Finance said its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jayesh Jain has resigned from the company. "Jayesh Jain has decided to step down as the Chief Financial Officer and key managerial personnel of the company. His last working day is January 5, 2018," PNB Housing Finance said in a BSE filing.

10:23 AM: Market breadth is positive with 1,497 stocks rising against 675 falling on the BSE.

10:20 am: Among sectoral indexes, healthcare, capital goods and oil and gas are ther major gainers on the BSE.

10:17 am: Bank Nifty falls 43 points to 25,548 level.

10: 16 am: Auto stocks see profit booking, BSE Auto index falls 124 points.

9:54 AM:  Maruti (Rs 8.52 cr), M&M (Rs 5.03 cr), Tata Steel (Rs 4.03 cr) see maximum turnover on BSE.

9:49 AM: Sun Pharma (1.93%), Hero MotoCorp (1.44%), L&T (1.24%) top Sensex gainers.

9: 30 am: Rupee opens at 64.07 level.

9: 20 am: India has emerged, in relative terms, as the second most preferred Asian market for foreign investors in the December quarter. Foreign investors pumped in $2.8 billion into Indian equities in this quarter. That is second only to the $25.6 billion Japan received in the same period.

9:15 am: Japan's Nikkei eased 0.3 percent, though a softening yen provided some support to exporters. South Korea slipped 1.2 percent amid tensions with the North, but Indonesia rose after Fitch upgraded the country's credit rating. The Dow fell 0.11 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.08 percent and the Nasdaq 0.04 percent In Europe, markets closed lower led by chemicals, healthcare, household goods and technology shares after tax bill in US got green signal.  US markets closed flat as Congress approved the long awaited tax bill that would cut corporate tax to 21% from 35%. Initial jobless claims and GDP 3Q data will be out today.