IT stocks in demand

Stocks hovered in positive zone in mid-morning trade. At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 69.63 points or 0.21% at 33,773.22. The Nifty 50 index was up 10 points or 0.1% at 10,370.40. Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC advanced. IT stocks gained. Cement stocks rose.

Trading for the day began on a positive note as domestic stocks logged modest gains in early trade. Stocks trimmed gains in morning trade after an initial upmove.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was off 0.3%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was off 0.17%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1,280 shares fell and 1,056 shares rose. A total of 108 shares were unchanged. Breadth was strong in early trade.

Overseas, most Asian stocks rose in choppy trading. Markets in China remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday and will reopen tomorrow, 22 February 2018. Japanese manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in February as growth of new export orders slowed due to the yen's appreciation. The Flash Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to a seasonally adjusted 54 in February from a final 54.8 in January.

US stocks snapped a six-day winning streak yesterday, 20 February 2018 with the Dow and S&P 500 weighed down by a steep loss for Walmart as investors also watched climbing bond yields, which could make equities less attractive at current levels.

The US Federal Reserve will today, 21 February 2018 release minutes of its Jan. 30-31 meeting, Janet Yellen's last as chair, where officials kept the rate unchanged.

Back home, index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC gained 1.45% to Rs 266.60.

IT stocks gained. TCS (up 1.97%), Infosys (up 1.13%), Wipro (up 0.57%), HCL Technologies (up 2.55%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.71%), Tech Mahindra (up 3.98%), MindTree (up 4.3%), Hexaware Technologies (up 2.95%) and Mphasis (up 3.41%) rose.

The National Association of Software and Services (Nasscom), the industry body of the Indian IT and business process management (BPM) sector, yesterday, 20 February 2018 reportedly said the country's IT exports could grow between 7 and 9% in 2018-19. Domestic revenues may grow slightly higher at 10-12%, while exports, may lag in 2018-19.

L&T Technology Services rose 6.1% to Rs 1,344.80 on bargain hunting after a recent decline. Shares of L&T Technology Services slumped 14.40% in five trading sessions to settle at Rs 1,267.45 yesterday, 20 February 2018, from its close of Rs 1,480.65 on 12 February 2018.

Cement stocks rose. ACC (up 0.69%), UltraTech Cement (up 0.43%) and Shree Cement (up 0.45%) gained. Ambuja Cements (down 0.38%) fell.

Grasim Industries was off 1.45%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

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