Key benchmarks sharply pare gains

Key benchmark indices sharply pared gains in morning trade after hitting fresh intraday high in early trade. At 10:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 1.71 points or 0.01% at 31,957.06. The Nifty 50 index was down 5.30 points or 0.05% at 9,894.30. The Sensex was trading below the psychologically important 32,000 mark after crossing that level in early trade.

The Sensex rose 101.77 points, or 0.32% at the day's high of 32,057.12 in early trade, its highest level since 17 July 2017. The index fell 7.30 points, or 0.02% at the day's low of 31,948.05 in morning trade. The Nifty rose 22.95 points, or 0.23% at the day's high of 9,922.55 in early trade, its highest level since 17 July 2017. The index fell 5.75 points, or 0.06% at the day's low of 9,893.85 in morning trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.05%, underperformed the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.24%, outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,148 shares rose and 932 shares fell. A total of 102 shares were unchanged.

IT stocks witnessed selling pressure. MindTree (down 2.73%), Infosys (down 0.77%), TCS (down 0.39%), Hexaware Technologies (down 0.36%), Persistent Systems (down 0.36%), HCL Technologies (down 0.35%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.1%) and MphasiS (down 0.06%), edged lower. Oracle Financial Services Software was up 0.25%.

IT major Wipro was up 0.02% at Rs 271.30. The company will announce Q1 June 2017 results today, 20 July 2017.

Cement shares were in demand. Ambuja Cements (up 1.59%), ACC (up 0.95%) and UltraTech Cement (up 0.41%), edged higher.

Grasim Industries was up 1.96%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Overseas, most Asian shares rose, bolstered by a surge in global stocks to a record high on strong US corporate earnings, while investors awaited the Japanese and European central bank meetings for clues on their policy outlooks. The Bank of Japan ends its two-day policy meeting today, 20 July 2017. It is set to keep policy unchanged.

US stock-market indices closed firmly higher yesterday, 19 July 2017, with all of the main equity benchmarks notching records, as buying appetite resumed on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.3% higher at 21,640. The S&P 500 index rose 0.5% at 2,473 and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended up 0.6% at 6,385. Market sentiment was aided partially by an early climb in shares of Morgan Stanley after it reported earnings and revenue that topped expectations.

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