FIRST TRADE: Indices slip; Sensex down over 100 pts, Nifty below 24,600; Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto decline after Q1 results

Stock market today: Domestic benchmark indices on Thursday, July 18, began the session in the negative territory. Last seen, Sensex was down 189.98 points or 0.24 per cent at 80,526.57 and NSE Nifty declined 50.9 points or 0.21 per cent at 24,562.1. 

"A dominant factor that has started influencing markets globally is the US presidential elections due in November. Opinion polls indicate that a Trump presidency appears increasingly probable now. The implications of a Trump presidency are higher tariffs on imports into the US, particularly from China. Also, Trump favours a weak dollar. The dollar has already started weakening and the dollar index is now at 103.68. This implies higher gold prices. The positive from the Indian stock market perspective is that expectations of a weakening dollar will increase foreign portfolio inflows, imparting resilience to the market," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar added the market will be influenced by this development and also by budget expectations. The results of Infosys today will give greater clarity to the movement in IT stocks. Pharma and healthcare stocks are witnessing slow accumulation.

In the broader market, Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 traded over 0.7 per cent lower. High-beta Nifty Bank was flat with a negative bias at 52,371.80.

BUZZING STOCKS

Asian Paints shares were down over 2 per cent after the company reported Q1 results.

Bajaj Auto shares were down over 2 per cent after global brokerages revised their stance on the stock.

Conversely, LTIMindtree shares were up over 2 per cent after the company reported Q1 results. 

L&T Finance shares were up over 1 per cent after the company reported mixed Q1 numbers.

Zensar Technologies shares were up over 2 per cent after BridgeView Life Sciences, LLC to purchase the entire 100 per cent membership.

KEC International shares were up over 3 per cent after the company received new orders worth Rs 1,100 crore. 

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