Cement stocks decline

Divergent trend continued in mid-morning trade with the Sensex trading with small gains and the Nifty 50 index trading with small losses. At 11:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 17.31 points or 0.05% at 36842.41. The Nifty 50 index was down 12.80 points or 0.11% at 11,121.50. Cement stocks declined on profit booking after yesterday's rally. Telecom stocks saw mixed trend.

A bout of volatility was seen in early trade as stocks regained positive zone soon after erasing intraday gains. The Sensex scaled a record high in early trade boosted by data showing that FPIs and DIIs were net buyers of equities yesterday, 24 July 2018. A divergent trend was witnessed in morning trade as the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was trading with small gains while the Nifty 50 index was trading with minor losses.

As per provisional data released by the stock exchanges, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 104.34 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 513.78 crore yesterday, 24 July 2018.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.01%, underperforming the Sensex. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.44%, outperforming the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1315 shares rose and 926 shares fell. A total of 115 shares were unchanged.

Cement stocks declined on profit booking after yesterday's rally. UltraTech Cement (down 2.83%), ACC (down 1%) and Shree Cement (down 1.34%) declined.

Grasim Industries was off 2.12%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Ambuja Cements fell 0.99% ahead of its April-June 2018 earnings today, 25 July 2018.

Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Bharti Airtel (down 2.96%) and Idea Cellular (down 2.48%) fell. MTNL (up 2.61%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 2.27%) and Reliance Communications (up 5.49%) rose.

Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 1.17%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading lower. Meanwhile, Beijing on Tuesday reportedly signalled that it would shift to a looser fiscal policy in a bid to protect the world's second largest economy from the impact of an escalating trade row with Washington. US equity benchmarks finished Tuesday mostly higher, led by technology and health-care companies.

On the trade front, focus is on talks between US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker set later on Wednesday, at which trade issues are likely to dominate.

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