Nifty ends the week below 8,700; US jobs data eyed

Markets ended lower on caution ahead of US jobs data, due for release later on Friday, could raise the prospects of a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended down 45 points at 28,061 and the Nifty50 closed 12 points lower at 8,698. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended flat. Market breadth ended neutral with 1386 gainers and 1388 losers on the BSE.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 354 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

IT exporters TCS, Wipro and Infosys ended down over 0.5% each ahead of September US jobs data.

Other losers include, HDFC, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank and L&T among others.

Auto stocks ended mixed after recent gains post their September sales numbers. Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp ended down 0.5% each while Bajaj Auto gained over 2%.

However, Tata Motors led the pack with 2.5% gain after the company said Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) achieved a strong 28% year on year growth in global sales during the month of September.

Tata Steel surged over 4%. The company’s hot metal production surged 17% to 3.12 million tonnes in the second quarter of 2016 compared with quarter ended September 2015. Crude steel production rose 13% to 2.82 million tonnes in the quarter ended September 2016 as against quarter ended September 2015.

Telecom shares were in action post the spectrum auction in which Airtel acquired 173.8 MHz spectrum across 1800/2100/2300-MHz bands, Idea Cellular won 2100-MHz band spectrum in Mumbai circle. Idea said it has procured 349.2 MHz of spectrum, securing additional airwaves in 1800-MHz, 2100-MHz, 2300-MHz and 2500-MHz bands. Bharti Airtel ended down 1% while Idea Cellular ended flat.

Reliance Industries settled marginally lower. The company’s telecom arm Jio said it has acquired 269.2 MHz spectrum across all 22 circles.

Kotak Mahindra Bank ended up 0.3%. The bank reduced its base rate to 9.40%, effective 7th October, 2016. Canara Bank eased 0.5% after the state-owned bank also cut its base rate by 5 basis points to 9.60%, effective from October 11, 2016.

Lupin ended up 1%. The pharma majors US arm Lupin Pharmaceutical Inc. entered in a strategic licensing agreement with MonoSol Rx. The company would develop multiple pediatric products utilising MonoSol Rx’s proprietary PharmFilm drug delivery technology.