IT stocks witness mixed trend

After trimming intraday gains in mid-morning trade, key benchmark indices traded with modest gains in early afternoon trade. At 12:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 128.09 points or 0.39% at 32,560.78. The Nifty 50 index advanced 44.65 points or 0.44% at 10,212.10.

Earlier, both the Sensex and the Nifty had hit record high as positive trade data and encouraging comments from the IMF chief on the outlook for Indian economy cheered investors. Also, market sentiment was buoyant in a truncated trading week ahead of Diwali.

Among secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.14%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.23%. Both the indices underperformed the Sensex.

The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,278 shares rose and 992 shares declined. A total of 101 shares were unchanged.

IT stocks were mixed. TCS (up 0.79%), Infosys (up 0.74%) and HCL Technologies (up 0.28%) gained. Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.77%), Wipro (down 0.55%) and Tech Mahindra (down 0.41%) declined.

Pharma stocks nudged higher. Cipla (up 1.88%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.68%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.23%), Lupin (up 0.86%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.32%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.1%) advanced. GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.31%) and Ipca Laboratories (down 0.08%) declined.

Jain Irrigation Systems gained 0.92% at Rs 60.40 after the company said that its pipe division bagged an order worth Rs 178.40 crore in Gujarat. The order is for supplying, installing and testing of underground pipeline (UGPL) system of sub minor for irrigation through kundies in Chak area for Sardar Sarovar Project command. The company will execute the work in 15 months. The announcement was made during market hours today, 16 October 2017.

On the macro front, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), stood at 2.6% (provisional) for the month of September 2017 as compared to 3.24% (provisional) for the previous month and 1.36% during the corresponding month of the previous year. The data was released by the government during market hours today, 16 October 2017.

India's merchandise exports rose by 25.67% to $28.61 billion in September 2017 over September 2016, helping the trade deficit narrow to $8.98 billion, the data released by the government after market hours on Friday, 13 October 2017 showed.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Christine Lagarde reportedly said that the Indian economy is on a solid growth track in the medium and long term due to the structural reforms undertaken by the government, and the current slowdown due to implementation of the goods & services tax (GST) and demonetisation is short term. The IMF has last week lowered India's growth forecast for 2017-18 to 6.7% from its earlier estimate of 7.2%, citing lingering impact of demonetisation and transition cost to GST.

Overseas, Asian stocks edged higher as investors digested the release of China inflation data. China's consumer price index rose 1.6% in September from a year ago. The producer price index rose 6.9% in the same period.

US stocks reached record highs on Friday, 13 October 2017 as investors bet on another strong earnings season. US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Sunday, 15 October 2017 sketched a bright outlook for the US economy and for inflation prospects in coming months suggesting that the central bank will soon resume raising interest rates to reflect the strengthening economy. Most economists foresee the next rate hike -- the third this year -- coming in December.

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