IT shares in demand

Key benchmark indices were hovering near the day's high in afternoon trade. At 13:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 475.66 points or 1.44% at 33,494.73. The Nifty 50 index was up 157.45 points or 1.55% at 10,285.85. Strong global cues underpinned the sentiment on the domestic bourses. Traders and investors are awaiting the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meeting. IT shares were in demand. Most pharmaceutical shares were trading higher.

Domestic stocks saw a gap-up opening tracking firm Asian stocks. Key benchmark indices extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Key benchmark indices held firm so far in intraday trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.56%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.69%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The broad market depicted strength. There were over three gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,989 shares rose and 568 shares fell. A total of 111 shares were unchanged.

IT shares were in demand. MindTree (up 3.02%), Wipro (up 1.49%), TCS (up 1.36%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.20%), Infosys (up 1.11%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.59%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.09%), Persistent Systems (up 0.02%) and MphasiS (up 0.02%), edged higher. HCL Technologies was down 0.04%.

Most pharmaceutical shares were trading higher. Piramal Enterprises (up 3.13%), Divi's Laboratories (up 1.90%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 1.52%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.43%), Lupin (up 1.36%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.36%), Wockhardt (up 1.29%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.21%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 0.78%) and Cadila Healthcare (up 0.29%), edged higher. Cipla (down 0.68%), IPCA Laboratories (down 1.57%), Strides Shasun (down 1.63%) and Alkem Laboratories (down 1.78%), edged lower.

Traders and investors are awaiting the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meeting. The RBI's two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting began yesterday, 4 April 2018 for the first bi-monthly monetary policy for 2018-2019. The resolution of the MPC will be announced at 14:30 IST today, 5 April 2018. As per reports, the central bank is likely to keep interest rates unchanged in the first monetary policy review of the current fiscal year, amid a gradual recovery in growth and easing inflation.

In its last meeting on 7 February 2018, RBI decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF was at 5.75%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate at 6.25%.

India's services activity rebounded in March, driven by a marginal rise in new businesses, data released today, 5 April 2018 showed. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services Business Activity Index rose to 50.3 in March from 47.8 in February. A reading above 50 indicates economic expansion, while a reading below 50 signals contraction.

Overseas, shares in Europe and Asia were trading higher as optimism grew that the US and China will step back from the brink of a trade war. Representatives from China and the US left the door open for a negotiated solution to avoid tariff proposals that wouldn't take effect for months. Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed for holidays.

China's tariffs would place 25% duties on major US exports to China including airplanes, autos and soybeans, covering 106 categories of products and affecting $50 billion of goods. The announcement followed plans by the Trump administration to impose tariffs of 25% on Chinese products worth $50 billion, on top of levies introduced on steel and aluminum last month. Retaliatory Chinese levies on US pork and fruit came into effect early this week.

US stocks closed sharply higher yesterday, 4 April 2018 amid heavy intraday volatility as investors turned their focus to earnings and away from a trade conflict between the United States and China.

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