Auto stocks advance

Market continued to trade firm in positive terrain in mid-morning trade. At 11:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 202.27 points or 0.63% at 32,474.88. The Nifty 50 index advanced 73 points or 0.72% at 10,158.40. Strong global cues lifted investors' spirit in opening trade. Later, market sentiment remained buoyant so far amid impressive gains on Wall Street Friday and positive trading on Asian bourses.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.86%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.02%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Closer home, the broad market depicted strength. There were more than two gainers for every loser on the BSE. 1,565 shares rose and 723 shares declined. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

Auto stocks advanced. Bajaj Auto (up 3.31%), Tata Motors (up 1.96%), Eicher Motors (up 1.89%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.16%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.92%) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.76%) gained.

Cement stocks edged higher. Ambuja Cements (up 0.51%), UltraTech Cement (up 0.45%), ACC (up 1.15%) and Grasim Industries (up 0.81%) advanced. Shree Cement (down 0.28%) edged lower.

Alkem Laboratories dropped 1.26% at Rs 1,785.50 after the company said it has received the inspection report from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) which contains two 483 observations after conducting an inspection at the company's manufacturing facility located at Baddi, India from 11 September to 15 September 2017. The company said it shall put together a detailed response with adequate corrective and preventive measures to address the USFDA observations and the same is proposed to be filed within the timeline stipulated by USFDA. The announcement was made during market hours today, 18 September 2017.

Shipping Corporation of India gained 1.3% at Rs 93.65 after the company said that it has taken physical delivery of a secondhand very large gas carrier of 53,503 dead weight tonnage capacity- Nanda Devi on 14 September 2017. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 15 September 2017.

Among economic data, India's merchandise exports increased 10.3% to $23.82 billion in August 2017 over a year ago. Meanwhile, merchandise imports jumped 21% to $35.46 billion. The trade deficit galloped 51.1% to $11.64 billion in August 2017 from $7.71 billion in August 2016, data released by the government after trading hours on Friday, 15 September 2017 showed.

As per the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, India's services exports increased 3.2% to $13.18 billion in July 2017 over July 2016. Meanwhile, India's services imports declined 1% to $7.33 billion in July 2017. India's services trade surplus improved 8.9% to $5.84 billion in July 2017 from $5.37 billion in July 2016.

Overseas, Asian stocks edged higher as investors anticipated clues on the direction of monetary policy from central banks later in the week. The US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision is scheduled on Wednesday, 20 September 2017. Japan markets are closed for a public holiday. US stocks rose to record levels on Friday, 15 September 2017, posting sharp weekly gains, with a big assist from rallying telecommunication and bank shares as Wall Street shook off North Korea's latest missile launch.

In the economic news, US industrial output fell in August for the first time since January as Hurricane Harvey battered oil, gas and chemical plants along the Gulf Coast and a cool summer sapped utility demand in the east, the Federal Reserve said on Friday, 15 September 2017. Overall industrial production fell 0.9% over the month after a July increase revised upward to 0.4%.

Among global events, European Union economic and financial affairs ministers held an informal meeting in Tallinn, Estonia on Friday, 15 September 2017 and emphasized that the strength of the entire EU is dependent on the strength of the economic and monetary union. The implementation of the Greek programme and the third review dominated the meeting, noted Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem at a press conference after the end of the meeting, as per reports.

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