Key equity indices reversed early gains and ended lower for second straight session, led by weakness in TCS, Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro. A firmness in ITC supported the indices at lower levels.

The indices opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in early deals. Indices sharply pared gains in morning trade. The market reversed trend and turned negative in mid-morning trade. Indices extended losses in early-afternoon trade and hit fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade. Indices pared losses in late trade.

The Sensex fell 96.66 points or 0.27% to settle at 36,009.84, its lowest closing level since 8 January 2019. The index rose 107.76 points, or 0.30% at the day's high of 36,214.26. The index fell 265.90 points, or 0.74% at the day's low of 35,840.60.

The Nifty 50 index fell 26.65 points or 0.25% to settle at 10,794.95, its lowest closing level since 7 January 2019. The index rose 28.55 points, or 0.26% at the day's high of 10,850.15. The index fell 82.20 points, or 0.76% at the day's low of 10,739.40.

Broader market witnessed selling pressure. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.13%. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.19%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1199 shares rose and 1411 shares fell. A total of 179 shares were unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE Telecom index (down 1.11%), the S&P BSE Realty index (down 1.43%), the S&P BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.93%) underperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE FMCG index (up 0.54%), the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index (up 0.13%), the S&P BSE Healthcare index (down 0.12%) outperformed the Sensex.

Infosys rose 0.58% to Rs 683.70. On a consolidated basis, Infosys' net profit fell 12.17% to Rs 3610 crore on 3.84% increase in revenues to Rs 21400 crore in Q3 December 2018 over Q2 September 2018. The company revised its FY2019 revenue guidance in constant currency upward to 8.5%-9.0%. It retained operating margin guidance at 22%-24%. The result was announced after market hours today, 11 January 2019.

The board in its meeting held today approved buyback of equity shares, from the open market route through the Indian stock exchanges, amounting to Rs 8260 crore (maximum buyback size) at a price not exceeding Rs 800 per share (maximum buyback price), subject to shareholders' approval by way of postal ballot. Further, the board also approved a special dividend of Rs 4 per share.

ITC rose 2.02% at Rs 295.40. A foreign brokerage reportedly retained 'buy' call on the ITC stock and raised price target to Rs 400 from Rs 390 earlier due to unchanged tobacco taxes.

TCS lost 2.45%. The company's consolidated net profit rose 2.58% to Rs 8105 crore on 2.43% rise in total income to Rs 38501 crore in Q3 December 2018 over Q2 September 2018. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 10 January 2019.

Commenting on the Q3 performance, Rajesh Gopinathan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, said the strong client metrics, industry leading growth in digital services, a very strong order book and deal pipeline are all validations that customers recognize the company's differentiated capabilities and are picking it for their growth and transformation programs.

Larsen & Toubro fell 1.44%. The company said its board of directors will meet on Friday, 25 January 2019, to consider and approve the unaudited financial results of the company for the quarter and nine months period ended 31 December 2018.

Reliance Industries fell 0.70%. The company said that it is planning to shut down one of the Crude Distillation units and Coker Unit of its DTA refinery at Jamnagar for routine maintenance and inspection activities for about 4 weeks starting from 16 January 2019. The other Crude Distillation and Secondary processing units are expected to operate normally. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 10 January 2019.

Tata Motors fell 2.83%. The Tata Motors Group global wholesales in December 2018, including Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), were at 100,551 units, lower by 13.9%, as compared to December 2017. Global wholesales of all Tata Motors' commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range in December 2018 were at 40,653 units, lower by 14% over December 2017. Global wholesales of all passenger vehicles in December 2018 were at 59,898 units, lower by 14%, compared to December 2017. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 11 January 2019.

The company's unit JLR reported retail of 52,160 in December, down 6.4% year-on-year primarily reflecting ongoing challenging market conditions in China (down 42.4%) as slowing economic growth and trade tensions with the US continue to impact automotive sales volumes across the industry, which were lower for the sixth consecutive month. Jaguar Land Rover continues to work closely with retailers in China to respond to the present market conditions. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 10 January 2019.

Banks shares declined. Among private sector banks, IndusInd Bank (down 3.26%), Yes Bank (down 1.47%), City Union Bank (down 0.68%), RBL Bank (down 0.57%), ICICI Bank (down 0.54%), Federal Bank (down 0.31%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 0.01%), edged lower. HDFC Bank (up 0.12%) and Axis Bank (up 0.53%), edged higher.

Among state-run banks, Allahabad Bank (down 2.84%), Bank of India (down 2.83%), Punjab & Sind Bank (down 2.75%), Bank of Baroda (down 1.99%), Syndicate Bank (down 1.98%), Canara Bank (down 1.05%), Bank of Maharashtra (down 0.99%), Dena Bank (down 0.73%), State Bank of India (down 0.69%), Punjab National Bank (down 0.62%), Vijaya Bank (down 0.51%), UCO Bank (down 0.48%), Corporation Bank (down 0.35%) and Andhra Bank (down 0.17%), edged lower. United Bank of India (up 0.34%), Indian Bank (up 0.42%), IDBI Bank (up 0.48%), Central Bank of India (up 0.7%) and Union Bank of India (up 0.92%), edged higher.

On the macro front, the GST council in its 32nd meeting held yesterday, 10 January 2019, under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley in New Delhi took major decisions to give relief to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) (including small traders) among others. The council increased turnover limit for the existing composition scheme. The limit of annual turnover in the preceding financial year for availing composition scheme for goods shall be increased to Rs 1.5 crore. Special category states would decide, within one week, about the composition limit in their respective states.

The compliance under composition scheme shall be simplified as now they would need to file one annual return but payment of taxes would remain quarterly (along with a simple declaration).

The council also announced that there would be two threshold limits for exemption from registration and payment of GST for the suppliers of goods i.e. Rs 40 lakh and Rs 20 lakh. States would have an option to decide about one of the limits within a weeks' time. The threshold for registration for service providers would continue to be Rs 20 lakhs and in case of special category States at Rs 10 lakh.

A composition scheme shall be made available for suppliers of services (or mixed suppliers) with a tax rate of 6% (3% CGST +3% SGST) having an annual turnover in the preceding financial year up to Rs 50 lakh. The said scheme shall be applicable to both service providers as well as suppliers of goods and services, who are not eligible for the presently available composition scheme for goods. They would be liable to file one annual return with quarterly payment of taxes (along with a simple declaration).

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 70.53, compared with closing of 70.41 during the previous trading session.

In global commodities markets, Brent crude oil futures edged lower. Brent for January 2019 settlement was up 42 cents at $62.10 a barrel.

Overseas, most European markets gave up early gains. In Europe, there is a strong focus on politics as the UK's departure from the European Union approaches. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday in London that he hopes both sides will avoid a no-deal.

Asian stocks ended higher on Friday, amid improved investor sentiment following overnight gains on Wall Street.

US stock markets logged a fifth straight advance on Thursday, representing the longest such win streaks for the Dow and S&P 500 of the past few months. Investors responded to comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. At the Economic Club of Washington, Powell reiterated the views of other policymakers that the Fed would be patient about interest rate hikes. He added that the Fed's balance sheet would be substantially smaller.

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