Indices pared further gains in mid-morning trade as stocks came off day's high. At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 88.40 points or 0.26% at 33,935.63. The Nifty 50 index was up 35.30 points or 0.35% at 10,182.10. Cement stocks fell. Most realty stocks rose.
The Sensex was currently trading below the psychological 34,000 level after moving above and below that level in intraday trade. Domestic bourses opened on firm note on bargain hunting after a prior four-day slide. Stocks trimmed gains in morning trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.21%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.19%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1141 shares rose and 993 shares fell. A total of 116 shares were unchanged.
Cement stocks fell. Shree Cement (down 2.11%) and ACC (down 0.13%) fell. UltraTech Cement (up 0.5%) rose.
Grasim Industries was off 1.38%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Ambuja Cements lost 1.67%. Consolidated net profit rose 12.73% to Rs 396.01 crore on 11.87% decline in net sales to Rs 6,017.58 crore in Q3 September 2018 over Q3 September 2017. The result was announced after trading hours yesterday, 23 October 2018. Standalone cement sales volume increased 8.76% to 5.46 million tonnes in Q3 September 2018 over Q3 September 2017, backed by a favourable demand trend.
Ajay Kapur, MD & CEO, Ambuja Cement, said that the company's continued focus on growing the topline with its well-defined marketing and commercial strategies focusing on the retail consumer, value added portfolio of products and services and selling more in its core markets helped deliver a good net sales growth. Sharp cost management helped mitigate the impact of headwinds coming from oil/fuel and rupee volatility and enabled the firm to deliver good results.
In its outlook, Ambuja Cements said that continued focus on GDP growth and infrastructure projects by the government and a strong push on housing for all and affordable housing led to good demand growth in the cement sector. Going forward the company expects this to continue and accelerate further.
Most realty stocks rose. Oberoi Realty (up 6.18%), DLF (up 1.08%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 2.03%), Sunteck Realty (up 2.58%), Peninsula Land (up 1.58%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (up 0.52%), Sobha (up 0.18%) gained.
D B Realty (down 1.18%), Godrej Properties (down 0.16%) and Prestige Estates Projects (down 1.32%) declined.
Overseas, Asian stocks were trading higher as Chinese shares reversed losses, helping offset concerns about the corporate earnings outlook in an environment of tightening financial conditions.
US stocks fell yesterday, 23 October 2018 as a big drop in the Chinese market revived fresh questions about the global economy. Sentiment remained fragile after Caterpillar repeated a warning from earlier this year about rising costs due to higher steel prices and US tariffs.
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