The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest cuts in the mid-morning trade, weighed by profit booking. The Nifty traded below the 24,750 mark. FMCG shares declined after advancing in the previous trading session.
At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 165.54 points or 0.21% to 80,552.47. The Nifty 50 index declined 30.20 points or 0.12% to 24,704.10.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index flat and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.10%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,881 shares rose and 1,873 shares fell. A total of 209 shares were unchanged.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty FMCG index declined 1.49% to 56,253.45. The index rose 1.15% in the five consecutive trading sessions.
ITC (down 2.45%), Emami (down 2.14%), Varun Beverages (down 2.07%), Colgate-Palmolive (India) (down 1.85%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 1.69%), Nestle India (down 1.31%), Dabur India (down 1.19%), Marico (down 1.15%), Patanjali Foods (down 1.02%) and Radico Khaitan (down 0.96%) fell.
On the other hand, United Breweries (up 0.08%) and United Spirits (up 0.01%) edged higher.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Container Corporation of India (Concor) rose 0.42%. The company announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bhavnagar Port Infrastructure (BPIPL) to operate and maintain the upcoming container terminal at the north side of Bhavnagar Port in Gujarat.
Power Grid Corporation of India rose 0.98%. The company said that it been declared the successful bidder to set up an interstate transmission system for evacuating power from pumped storage projects in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh, under tariff-based competitive bidding.
Global Markets:
Asian market advanced on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday formalizing a lower Japanese auto import tariff of 15%, down from 27.5%.
The order also confirmed the agreement for $550 billion of Japanese investments in U.S. projects.
Several Asian chip stocks were in focus after Trump said Thursday stateside that his administration plans to slap tariffs on semiconductor imports from firms that do not move production to the United States. The comments came ahead of Trump’s dinner with top technology CEOs at the renovated Rose Garden.
Japanese real wages turned positive for the first time in seven months on the back of hefty summertime bonuses, but elevated inflation added to pressure on consumption, data showed on Friday.
Inflation-adjusted real wages, a key determinant of households’ purchasing power, edged up 0.5% in July from a year earlier, the first increase since December last year, when they inched up by 0.3%.
Overnight stateside, all three key benchmarks rose on hopes of a favorable jobs report that supports a Federal Reserve rate cut chance.
The broad market S&P 500 finished up 0.83% at 6,502.08, while the Nasdaq Composite settled up 0.98% at 21,707.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 350.06 points, or 0.77%, at 45,621.29. It was the S&P 500's 21st record close so far this year.
Data released on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week, while hiring by private employers slowed in August, offering further evidence that labor market conditions were softening.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 237,000 for the week ended August 30, the US Labor Department said.