Benchmark indices hover in positive zone

After a higher opening, key benchmark indices hovered firm in positive zone in morning trade. At 10:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 204.69 points or 0.73% at 28,189.06. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 58.30 points or 0.67% at 8,717.40.

The Sensex rose 228.13 points or 0.81% at the day's high of 28,212.50 in morning trade, its highest level since 10 October 2016. The barometer index rose 47.20 points or 0.16% at the day's low of 28,031.57 in opening trade. The Nifty rose 67.90 points or 0.78% at the day's high of 8,727 in morning trade, its highest level since 10 October 2016. The index rose 28.65 points or 0.33% at the day's low of 8,687.75 in early trade.

The broad market depicted strength. There were more than two gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,493 shares rose and 550 shares declined. A total of 118 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.62%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.74%, outperforming the Sensex.

Cement stocks edged higher. Ambuja Cements (up 1.6%), ACC (up 0.83%) and UltraTech Cement (up 0.2%) rose.

Grasim Industries was up 1.15%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

IT stocks were mixed. Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.99%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.67%), Infosys (up 0.55%) and TCS (up 0.2%) edged higher. HCL Technologies (down 0.81%), Persistent Systems (down 0.64%) and Wipro (down 0.26%) edged lower.

Tata Coffee was off 0.17% at Rs 146.40. The stock was volatile. The stock hit a high of Rs 150.05 and a low of Rs 143.75 so far during the day. The company's consolidated net profit rose 61.89% to Rs 44.65 crore on 7.19% fall in total income to Rs 375.76 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015. Tata Coffee said that instant coffee business of the company continued to deliver superior profit performance in Q2 September 2016. The instant coffee/value added business of the company reported modest growth in topline sales on volume growth in Q2 September 2016. Tata Coffee received dividend of Rs 16.75 crore from its overseas subsidiary Consolidated Coffee Inc. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 19 October 2016.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend. US stocks registered small gains yesterday, 19 October 2016, helped by better-than-expected earnings and rising oil prices. The Federal Reserve released the latest iteration of its Beige Book, which summarizes economic conditions in the US. In it, the Fed said economic activity increased at a modest pace in most regions.

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