Mumbai: Indian shares fell on Thursday, dragged down largely by banks including ICICI Bank as investors booked profits a day after the US Federal Reserve signalled one more rate hike by the end of this year.

The Fed held interest rates steady and announced a plan to start shrinking its balance sheet by reducing its holdings of US Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. “After the Fed rate decision, Asian markets have come under slight pressure but it hasn’t been a tipping point for Indian markets,” said Anand James, chief market strategist with Geojit Financial Services. “From a domestic point of view, investors are locking in gains after the markets sustained at peak levels for a long time. The market is looking for further cues to push prices higher,” he added.

Here are the latest updates from the markets:

■ 3.33pm: BSE Sensex closes lower by 30.47 points, or 0.09%, to 32,370, while the Nifty 50 fell 19 points, or 0.19%, to close at 10,122.

■ 3.00pm: Reliance Communications Ltd rose 6.5% to Rs 21.10 after CNBC report said that Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal directed DoT to complete Rel Comm-SSTL merger in two weeks.

■ 2.39pm: BSE Sensex traded lower by 27 points, or 0.08%, to 32,373, while the Nifty 50 fell 16 points, or 0.16%, to 10,125.

■ 2.34pm: Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said it has received establishment inspection report from the US Food and Drug Administration for a unit of its Srikakulam plant in Andhra Pradesh. However, the company did not provide further details. The company separately said it has received zero observations for its custom pharmaceutical services facility, technology development centre, at Miyapur in Hyderabad, from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Dr. Reddy’s Labs stock was the top gainer on BSE and was trading 7.02% higher at Rs2,476.

■ 2.30pm: Claris Lifesciences Ltd said it has completed the sale of its remaining 20% stake in Otsuka Pharmaceutical India Pvt. Ltd to Japan’s Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory Inc. for $20 million. Claris shares were up 0.25% to Rs374.

■ 2.27pm: Vedanta Ltd said the state pollution control board of Odisha has revoked closure of three units of its power plants in Jharsuguda. Shares of Vedanta were trading 0.31% lower at Rs322.10.

■ 2.05pm: BSE Sensex traded lower by 55 points, or 0.17%, to 32,345, while the Nifty 50 fell 28 points, or 0.27%, to 10,113.

■ 2.00pm: The rupee was trading at 64.74 a dollar, down 0.72% from its Wednesday’s close of 64.27. The home currency opened at 64.50 a dollar and touched a low of 64.81—a level last seen on 5 July.

■ 1.03pm: ITI Ltd surged 12% to Rs113.85 after the company said in a notice to BSE that it got Rs 7000 crore defence project from Indian government.

■ 12.36pm: BSE Sensex traded lower by 104 points, or 0.32%, to 32,296, while the Nifty 50 fell 46 points, or 0.45%, to 10,095.

■ 12.33pm: The Nifty Bank index dropped below the 25,000 mark to 24,767, down 0.79%. ICICI Bank was the top loser and was down 1.91%, while Axis Bank fell 1.27% and HDFC Bank 0.64%.

■ 12.30pm: The BSE healthcare index gained most and surged 2.30%. Dr. Reddy’s Labs was the top gainer and was up 5.09%, followed by Cipla (3.41%), Lupin (3.36%) and Sun Pharma (2.59%).

■ 12.28pm: Orchid Pharma Ltd surged 20% to Rs21.45 after the company said its API facility in Alathur got establishment inspection report from the US drug regulator.

■ 11.38am: BSE Sensex traded lower by 117 points, or 0.36%, to 32,284, while the Nifty 50 fell 46 points, or 0.45%, to 10,096.

■ 11.30am: GMR Infrastructure Ltd fell 3% to Rs 17.35 after huge block deal. Around 1 million shares of the company changed hands in a block deal, according to Bloomberg report. However, details of the buyers and sellers were not known.

■ 11.28am: Den Networks Ltd rose 2.5% to Rs95.15 after the company said it got NCLT nod to demerge its broadband/internet service arm Skynet Cable.

■ 11.25am: Om Metals Infraprojects Ltd surged 13% to Rs 76.40 after Porinju Veliyath led by Equity Intelligence bought 7.3 lakh shares or 0.8% stake in the company at Rs 62.70 a share.

■ 10.20am: Banking stocks fell. Andhra Bank fell 4%, Bank of India 3%, Syndicate Bank 2.6%, Karnataka Bank 2.6%, Punjab National Bank 2.3%, Canara Bank 2.1%, Allahabad Bank 2.1%, ICICI Bank 2%, Oriental Bank of Commerce 2%, Indian Bank 2%, Bank of Baroda 1.8% and South Indian Bank 1.7%.

■ 10.12am: BSE Sensex dropped by 138 points, or 0.43%, to 32,262, while the Nifty 50 fell 61 points, or 0.60%, to 10,080.

■ 10.10am: Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd surged over 6.5% to Rs2,462.90 after the company said it got establishment inspection report from US drug regulator for its Srikakulam plant.

■ 10.06am: Shares of Matrimony.com Ltd. debuted nearly 2% lower on the bourses on Monday, after the online match maker’s Rs500 crore initial public offer (IPO) was subscribed 4.4 times last week.

■ 10.00am: Novartis India Ltd rose 5.2% to Rs682.20 after the company said its board to meet on 25 September to consider buyback of shares.

■ 9.46am: Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd rose 3% to Rs2,385 after brokerage firm Morgan Stanley upgrades stock to “overweight” from “equal weight” and increased its target price to Rs3,133 from Rs2,798 a share.

■ 9.43am: Coffee day enterprises Ltd fell 4% to Rs232.50 after the company said IT Department conducted searches at multiple locations of the company premises CNBC reported.

■ 9.26am: BSE Sensex opened higher by 37 points, or 0.12%, to 32,438, while the Nifty 50 rises 10 points, or 0.10%, to 10,151.

■ 9.23am: India Tourism Development Corp. Ltd surged 12% to Rs642.40 after the company said it is in pact for transfer of Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel, Mysore to Government of Karnataka. The stock gained for second sessions and rose 25% in this period. So far this year it advanced nearly 190%.

■ 9.20am: Tata Steel Ltd rose 1% to Rs697.05. German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp AG and Tata Steel Ltd have agreed to merge their European steel operations to create the continent’s second-biggest maker of the alloy, concluding one-and-a-half years of tortuous negotiations. The deal will not involve any cash, Tata Steel said. Both groups will contribute debt and liabilities to achieve an equal shareholding and remain long-term investors.

■ 9.15am: The rupee opened at 64.50 a dollar and touched a low of 64.53—a level last seen on 12 July. The rupee was trading at 64.48 a dollar, down 0.34% from its Wednesday’s close of 64.27.

■ 9.13am: The 10-year bond yield was at 6.604% compared to its previous close of 6.577%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

■ 9.10am: Asian currencies were trading lower. South Korean won was down 0.39%, Malaysian ringgit 0.32%, Indonesian rupiah 0.29%, China renminbi 0.23%, Japanese yen 0.21%, Singapore dollar 0.21%, Taiwan dollar 0.11%, Thai baht 0.1%. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 92.579, up 0.08% from its previous close of 92.51.
Source:livemint.com