Domestic equity benchmarks ended with small losses after a volatile session on Wednesday. The Nifty regained 11,100 mark after falling below that level in intraday. The indices were volatile ahead of the monthly F&O expiry tomorrow.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 53.50 points or 0.14% at 37,680.58. The Nifty 50 index lost 19.65 points or 0.18% at 11,134.

After opening in the green, the key indices pared gains in afternoon trade. The barometers tumbled to the day's low in mid-afternoon trade. However, value buying in the last hour helped the benchmarks end the day with minor cuts.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.33% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.07%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1226 shares rose and 1406 shares fell. A total of 164 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 31,605,656 with 970,934 deaths. India reported 968,377 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 90,020 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

India-China Conflict:

The Indian and Chinese Senior Commanders held the 6th round of military commander-level meeting on Monday. The two sides had agreed to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen communication on the ground, avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments, stop sending more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground, and avoid taking any actions that may complicate the situation. The two sides also agreed to hold the 7th round of military commander-level meeting as soon as possible, take practical measures to properly solve problems on the ground, and jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border area.

Monsoon Session:

Rajya Sabha was today adjourned sine die eight days ahead of the scheduled time of the Monsoon Session in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Monsoon Session which had begun on 14th of this month was scheduled to end on 1st of next month. The Lok Sabha will assemble at 6 pm and it is expected that the Lower House will also adjourn sine die today itself.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index fell 1.84% to 11,658.40. The index advanced 0.66% yesterday.

Divi's Labs (down 2.85%), Lupin (down 2.67%), Torrent Pharma (down 2.44%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 2.33%), Cadila Healthcare (down 2.28%), Alkem Laboratories (down 2.16%), Cipla (down 1.64%) and Dr. Reddy's Labs (down 1.58%) declined while Biocon adanced 0.68%.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries slipped 1.48% to Rs 502.90. The company said that its wholly-owned Japanese subsidiary has launched ILUMYA Subcutaneous Injection 100 mg syringe in Japan for the treatment of plaque psoriasis in adult patients who have an inadequate response to conventional therapies.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.63% to Rs 2225 after the company announced on Wednesday that global investment firm KKR will invest Rs 5,550 crore into Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), a subsidiary of the company. This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore. KKR's investment will translate into a 1.28% equity stake in RRVL on a fully diluted basis. This marks the second investment by KKR in a subsidiary of RIL, following a Rs 11,367 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year.

Sequent Scientific jumped 4.58% to Rs 150.55 after the company said it entered into definitive agreement with Dr. Huseyin Aydin for the acquisition of 40% stake in Provet for $17.10 million. Sequent will acquire the stake through its Ireland-based wholly-owned subsidiary, Alivira Animal Health. The transaction is expected to be completed on or before 31 October 2020.

Hexaware Technologies rose 1.61% at Rs 468.05 after the company in a newspaper advertisement announced that the promoter HT Global Holdings has accepted the discovered price of Rs 475 per share, as the final price for the delisting offer.

Central Bank of India fell 3.20% to Rs 16.65. The state-run bank launched its qualified institutional placement (QIP) of shares on Tuesday (22 September 2020). The floor price has been set at 16.18 per equity share for the QIP, which is a 5.93% discount to Tuesday's closing price. The bank's capital-raising committee will meet on 25 September to consider and determine the issue price for the equity shares to be allotted to qualified institutional buyers.

Indian Oil Corporation shed 0.39% to Rs 75.95. The board of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) approved implementation of petrochemical and lube integration project at the company's Gujarat refinery at an estimated cost of Rs 17,825 crore.

Majesco hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 803.55. On Tuesday, 22 September 2020, Unifi Wealth Management bought 2.06 lakh equity shares (0.71% equity) of Majesco at Rs 779.05 per share via bulk deal on the NSE.

Repco Home Finance jumped 4.80% to Rs 164.80. On Tuesday, 22 September 2020, Fidelity Funds - Asian Smaller Companies Pool bought 4.20 lakh equity shares (0.67% equity) of Repco Home Finance at Rs 150.33 per share via bulk deals on the NSE. As of 30 June 2020, Fidelity Funds - Asian Smaller Companies Pool held 1.52% stake in Repco Home Finance.

Shares of two Shapoorji Pallonji Group were in demand after the group on Tuesday said it is willing to exit its decades-old position in Tata Sons.

The Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group, the largest minority shareholder with 18.37% stake in Tata Sons, on Tuesday said it is “time to separate from Tata” to end a relationship that has spanned over 70 years. Tata Sons is the holding company of Tata Group. According to reports, the market value of SP Group's stake in the listed entities of Tata Group is estimated to be around Rs 1,48,000 crore going by the market capitalization of all listed Tata Group firms.

Consequently, Sterling & Wilson Solar (up 20%) and Forbes & Company (up of 5%) rallied.

Global Markets:

European markets rose while Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday as investors react to recent comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The Dow Jones Futures 30 were trading 232 points higher, indicating a positive start in US markets today.

In a prepared testimony, the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reportedly said the central bank remains committed to supporting the economy through its tools for as long as it takes. He also noted that many economic indicators show marked improvement, though the path forward continues to be highly uncertain.

In Europe, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new restrictions that are likely to last six months and told people to work from home, if possible. The announcement comes after a surge in coronavirus cases in the country, with a further 4,368 daily cases reported on Monday.

The US stock market finished higher on Tuesday, 22 September 2020, with two of the three major averages snapping four days of losing streak, as the recent market pullbacks triggered a bargain buying opportunity for growth companies in the US. However, market gains capped as a likely delay in new fiscal stimulus by the United States Congress and concerns about faster economic recovery after an increase in the number of coronavirus cases.

Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes closed higher, led by information technology and consumer discretionary. Shares of megacap technology stocks — which have suffered brunt of declines in September — all closed in positive territory on Tuesday. Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc, and Facebook Inc all rose more than 1.6%. They had carried the brunt of recent declines.

US existing home sales jumped 2.4% to an annual rate of 6.000 million in August after skyrocketing by 24.7% to a rate of 5.860 million in July, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday. With the sharp increase, existing home sales reached their highest level since December of 2006.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, in remarks at a forum, reportedly warned that it's important for Congress to pass more spending or risk a downward economic spiral.