Cement stocks nudge higher

Market continued to hover near the flat line in morning trade. At 10:19 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.45 point at 31,158.95. The Nifty 50 index declined 4.25 points or 0.04% at 9,620.30. Both the Sensex, and the Nifty, hit record high.

The Sensex rose 74.28 points or 0.23% at the day's high of 31,233.68 in morning trade, a record high for the index. It lost 51.92 points or 0.16% at the day's low of 31,107.48 in early trade. The Nifty rose 14.15 points or 0.14% at the day's high of 9,638.70 in morning trade, a record high for the index. It lost 13.75 points or 0.14% at the day's low of 9,610.80 in early trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.67%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.79%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed after key markets resumed trading after holidays. China markets which re-opened after a long holiday were in green. US equities closed lower yesterday, 30 May 2017 as investors digested key economic data, but a rise in tech stocks helped cap losses.

In Europe, poll results showed that UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party could potentially lose its majority in parliament.

Closer home, the breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,291 shares rose and 804 shares declined. A total of 99 shares were unchanged.

Cement stocks edged higher. UltraTech Cement (up 2.96%), Grasim Industries (up 2.1%), Ambuja Cements (up 0.27%) and ACC (up 0.11%) advanced. Shree Cement (down 0.05%) edged lower.

Realty stocks advanced. HDIL (up 6.29%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 2.82%), Oberoi Realty (up 1.89%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 1.78%), DLF (up 1.39%), D B Realty (up 1.34%), Godrej Properties (up 0.47%) and Sobha (up 0.09%) edged higher. Unitech (down 0.38%) edged lower.

Jet Airways (India) was up 1.69% at Rs 467.30. The company's net profit dropped 90.73% to Rs 36.80 crore on 5.57% increase in total income to Rs 5759.58 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 30 May 2017.

Jet Airways (India) said that despite the challenges posed by the recent increase in Brent crude oil prices, coupled with continuing low airfares and increased capacity, the airline reported profit during FY 2017.

Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways (India), said that the past year has been extremely challenging for both domestic and international markets. Notwithstanding the growth in traffic in the domestic market, the downward pressure on yields continued despite rise in oil prices.

On the macro front, a press release dated 31 May 2017 issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated that conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into remaining parts of south Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep area and Kerala, some parts of central Arabian Sea, coastal & south interior Karnataka, some more parts of Tamilnadu, southwest, west central & east central & east central Bay of Bengal, most parts of northeast Bay of Bengal and some more parts of northeastern states during next 2-3 days.

The June-September southwest monsoon is critical for the country's agriculture because a considerable part of the country's farmland is dependent on the rains for irrigation.

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