Breadth turns positive

Key barometers pared gains after hitting fresh intraday high in morning trade. At 10:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 67.89 points or 0.19% at 36,391.66. The Nifty 50 index was up 24.75 points or 0.23% at 10,961.60.

After opening lower, the indices firmed up as the session proceeded. The Sensex rose 146.99 points, or 0.40% at the day's high of 36,470.76 in morning trade. The index fell 61.99 points, or 0.17% at the day's low of 36,261.78 in early trade. The Nifty rose 52.80 points, or 0.48% at the day's high of 10,989.65 in morning trade. The index fell 11.25 points, or 0.10% at the day's low of 10,925.60 in early trade.

Broader market firmed up. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.78%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.34%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned positive from negative. On BSE, 1035 shares rose and 833 shares fell. A total of 102 shares were unchanged.

Most IT stocks rose. Persistent Systems (up 1.79%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.67%), Wipro (up 0.64%), HCL Technologies (up 0.61%), Infosys (up 0.09%) and Tech Mahindra (up 0.07%), edged higher. TCS (down 0.14%), MindTree (down 0.55%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.38%) and MphasiS (down 3.35%), edged lower.

Most pharmaceutical shares rose. Strides Shasun (up 2.18%), Cadila Healthcare (up 2.14%), Alkem Laboratories (up 2.05%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.77%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 1.72%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.21%), Cipla (up 1.17%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.80%), Lupin (up 0.68%) and IPCA Laboratories (up 0.03%), edged higher. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.18%), Wockhardt (down 0.3%), Piramal Enterprises (down 0.59%) and Divi's Laboratories (down 1.67%), edged lower.

On the economic front, the IMF has cut India's growth forecast by 10 basis points to 7.3% for the current year and by 30 basis points to 7.5% for 2019, citing faster-than-anticipated monetary tightening and higher crude prices. The international body had projected 7.4% and 7.8% growth for 2018 and 2019, respectively in its April forecast.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed as energy stock came under selling pressure amid overnight fall in crude oil prices.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday warned that there was an increased risk of "worse outcomes" amid recent international trade tensions, although it kept its forecasts for global growth this year the same at 3.9%.

In US, the Dow industrials bucked the trend of an otherwise downbeat session on Monday as upbeat economic data and a fresh round of quarterly results failed to stoke buying appetite. Investors also watched President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin convene for a summit in Helsinki, Finland but reaction to a joint conference with the two leaders was muted.

On the US data front, US retail sales rose 0.5% in June. Separately, the Empire State Index fell 2.4 points to 22.6 in July. Business inventories in the US rose 0.4% in May, the Commerce Department said. Sales jumped 1.4% in the month.

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