Barometers remain upbeat on positive Asian cues

Key equity benchmarks continued hovering near the day's high in afternoon trade, triggered by positive cues from other Asian shares. At 13:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 332.14 points or 0.81% at 40,270.86. The Nifty 50 index gained 89.60 points or 0.74% at 12,143.55.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.34%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.53%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, shares 1,286 rose and 1,014 shares fell. A total of 180 shares were unchanged.

Top Gainers & Losers:

Tata Steel (up 4.73%), Vedanta (up 4.01%), Hindalco Industries (up 3.56%), Tata Steel (up 3.12%) and JSW Steel (up 3.02%) advanced.

GAIL (India) (down 2.02%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 1.09%), NTPC (down 0.89%), UPL (down 0.75%) and Titan Company (down 0.49%) declined.

Buzzing Index:

Media stocks were in demand. Balaji Telefilms (up 3.36%), TV18 Broadcast (3.25%), Network18 (up 3.05%), Zee Entertainment Enterprise (up 2.52%), PVR (up 1.78%) and Dish TV India (up 1.15%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 0.26% after the company bought a 90.5% stake in e-learning products and services provider Funtoot for Rs 71.64 crore.

Further, RIL and British energy major BP Plc on Monday signed a partnership agreement to set up 5,500 petrol pumps under the brand Jio-BP. The venture is expected to be formed during the first half of 2020, subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.

Cipla rose 1.10% to Rs 463.65. The drug major purchased the trademark rights for Vysov tablets of the anti-diabetic drug, Vildagliptin for the Indian market. The firm has been involved in co-marketing of Vildagliptin in agreement with Novartis under the brand names 'Vysov & Vysov M' and has witnessed a strong uptake for the product in India for the last couple of years. Currently, it is available all across India.

Yes Bank advanced 2.56% to Rs 48. The stock is banned from NSE's Futures & Options (F&O) segment after the security crossed 95% of market wide position limit.

Tech Mahindra gained 0.25% to Rs 774.90. A brokerage firm reportedly put an overweight rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 850 per share and said that the valuation is cheap at the current levels.

Car major Maruti Suzuki India was up 0.71% at Rs 7,185.60. A foreign brokerage upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'neutral' rating, raising the target price to Rs 8,650 per share from Rs 7,450 per share.

Foreign Markets:

European stocks traded lower Tuesday on profit booking following a worldwide rally on the back of a 'phase one U.S.-China trade deal.

Asian markets were trading higher as sentiment continues to be buoyed by a recent phase one trade deal reached between Beijing and Washington.

In US, stocks ended Monday's session at new records amid an upbeat tone tied to a preliminary US-China trade deal struck last week, even while questions remain over the details of the long-awaited phase-one accord.

In US economic data, the Markit purchasing managers survey for the manufacturing sector was down a touch to 52.5 in December, from 52.6, but the services sector gauge came in at 52.2, from 51.6. Any number above 50 represents a pickup in economic activity.

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