Key benchmarks hit fresh intraday high

The Sensex and the Nifty trimmed gains after hitting fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 275.62 points or 0.79% at 34,989.22. The Nifty 50 index was up 71 points or 0.67% at 10,688.80. Maruti Suzuki India slipped after reporting Q4 results.

The Sensex was flirting with the psychologically important 35,000 mark in intraday trade. The undertone of the market was positive amid encouraging Q4 earnings so far and positive global cues. Continuous buying by domestic institutional investors also boosted sentiment.

After seeing a gap-up opening, the key benchmark indices continued to trade with firmness so far during the day. The Sensex rose 351.77 points, or 1.01% at the day's high of 35,065.37 in mid-afternoon trade, its highest intraday level since 2 February 2018. The index rose 31.13 points, or 0.09% at the day's low of 34,744.73 in early trade. The Nifty rose 102 points, or 0.96% at the day's high of 10,719.80 in mid-afternoon trade, its highest intraday level since 2 February 2018. The index rose 29.75 points, or 0.28% at the day's low of 10,647.55 in early trade.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 1,507 shares rose and 1,042 shares fell. A total of 131 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.70%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.61%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

Auto stocks rose. Escorts (up 2.78%), Bajaj Auto (up 2.21%), Eicher Motors (up 2.05%), TVS Motor Company (up 1.80%), Tata Motors (up 1.29%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.12%), edged higher. Hero MotoCorp (down 0.37%) and Ashok Leyland (down 0.4%), edged lower.

Car major Maruti Suzuki India was down 0.25% to Rs 8,925.20. The company announced that its net profit rose 10% to Rs 1882.10 crore on 14.4% increase in net sales to Rs 20594.30 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017. Increase in effective tax rate impacted net profit, the company said. The result was announced during trading hours today, 27 April 2018.

Most capital goods shares rose. BEML (up 2.43%), Bharat Electronics (up 2.33%), Jindal Saw (up 1.98%), Praj Industries (up 1.88%), Suzlon Energy (up 1.59%), Punj Lloyd (up 1.47%), Crompton Greaves (up 1.28%), Siemens (up 0.91%), AIA Engineering (up 0.88%), Havells India (up 0.87%), Thermax (up 0.75%), GE T&D India (up 0.33%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 0.29%), ABB India (up 0.14%) and Lakshmi Machine Works (up 0.12%), edged higher. SKF India (down 0.46%), GE Power India (down 0.61%) and Reliance Defence and Engineering (down 5.67%), edged lower.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was up 1.71% to Rs 1,370.10.

Overseas, shares in Europe and Asia rose after US equities were buoyed by solid earnings results and a rebound in technology stocks as US bond yields pulled back. Meanwhile, Euro was hovering near three-month lows after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged.

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