Market Pulse

Firmness prevailed in early afternoon trade as key barometers continued marching upwards. At 12:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 192.81 points or 0.57% at 34,293.94. The Nifty 50 index was up 57.25 points or 0.55% at 10,515.90. Nifty was trading above the 10,500 mark.

The broad market depicted strength as 1,487 shares rose and 925 shares fell on BSE. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.82%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.72%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The key indices opened higher and firmed up further as the session progressed. The Sensex rose 199.43 points, or 0.58% at the day's high of 34,300.56 in early afternoon trade, its highest intraday level since 28 February 2018. The index rose 53.81 points, or 0.16% at the day's low of 34,154.94 in early trade. The Nifty rose 57.90 points, or 0.55% at the day's high of 10,516.55 in early afternoon trade, its highest intraday level since 1 March 2018. The index rose 17.15 points, or 0.16% at the day's low of 10,475.80 in early trade.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 3.21%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.8%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.6%), were the top gainers in the Sensex pack.

Hindustan Unilever (down 0.48%), Larsen & Toubro (down 0.41%) and State Bank of India (down 0.06%), were the major losers in the Sensex pack.

Realty shares were trading higher. Indiabulls Real Estate (up 2.41%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 1.45%), Peninsula Land (up 1.30%), Oberoi Realty (up 1.20%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 1.10%), Parsvnath Developers (up 1.08%), DLF (up 0.96%), D B Realty (up 0.70%), Sobha (up 0.50%), Godrej Properties (up 0.47%), Omaxe (up 0.31%) and Phoenix Mills (up 0.23%), edged higher. Mahindra Lifespace Developers (down 0.23%), Sunteck Realty (down 0.37%) and Unitech (down 0.62%), edged lower.

FMCG shares were mixed. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (down 1.78%), Marico (down 1.5%), Dabur India (down 0.77%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.23%) and Colgate Palmolive (India) (down 0.03%), edged lower. Tata Global Beverages (up 0.07%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (up 0.29%), Jyothy Laboratories (up 0.34%), Britannia Industries (up 0.4%), Bajaj Corp (up 1.12%) and Nestle India (up 1.2%), edged higher.

Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC was up 0.11% at Rs 262.30.

On macro front, the all-India general consumer price index (CPI) inflation eased marginally to five-month low of 4.28% in March 2018, compared with 4.44% in February 2018.

India's industrial production continued to record a healthy growth for the fourth straight month at 7.1% in February 2018 over February 2017. The manufacturing sector's production surged 8.7% in February 2018, contributing to the overall growth in industrial production. However, the growth of electricity generation output moderated to 4.5%, while the mining output declined 0.3% in February 2018.

Overseas, Asian stock markets gave up some of their early gains Friday after China reported a surprise trade deficit for March.

China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.59%. China's trade balance swung to a deficit of $4.98 billion in March from a $33.7 billion surplus in the previous month. Exports declined 2.7% in March from a year earlier, following a 44.5% surge in February. Imports in March expanded 14.4% from a year earlier, compared with a 6.8% increase in February.

US stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday, as geopolitical concerns appeared to fade after President Donald Trump tweeted that a military strike on Syria may not be imminent. Escalating tensions over the Middle Eastern country were seen as a major contributor to weakness in Wednesday's session.

Today's Calls:

#Exit out of the shares of MCX Ltd at around Rs.766 and enter 63 Moon Technologies Ltd at around Rs.97.

#I have recommended a small cap Tech stock which has a turnaround story to the Paid Members. Those who wish to know the name,, should join my service at the earliest. 

~~wtth inputs from Capital Market - Live News