After opening the day in red, share markets in India witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day and ended the day on a flat note with a positive bias. Sectoral indices traded mixed, with stocks in the power sector and stocks in the realty sector, leading the losses.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 20 points (up 0.1%) and the NSE Nifty closed up by 7 points (up 0.1%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.3%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 0.6%.
The rupee was trading at Rs 68.16 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 74.64 at the time of writing.
Asian stock markets finished mixed. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.5%. The Nikkei 225 was up by 0.1%. Meanwhile, European markets, were trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.4%. The DAX, was up by 0.1% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.2%
The initial public offer of Varroc Engineering Limited hit the market today. The price band for the issue has been fixed at 965-967 per share.
The auto parts manufacturer aims to raise over Rs 19.5 billion through its IPO, which is a pure offer for sale, with no fresh issue of capital.
Note that the market is gearing up for a burst of activity, with at least 12 companies planning to raise more than Rs 170 billion over the next two months, after a quiet start to the June quarter.
Reportedly, the introduction of the new Indian accounting standards (IndAS) as one of the reasons why IPO-bound companies have not approached the market so far, this quarter.
All companies, including unlisted ones, having net worth of between Rs 2.5 billion and Rs 5 billion have to prepare their financial accounts for the year ended 31 March 2018 as per the IndAS accounting standards. Companies with net worth of Rs 5 billion or more had to implement the new standard a year earlier.
