Key benchmarks trade with small gains

Key benchmark indices bounced back from the day's low and were trading with small gains in mid-morning trade. At 11:17 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 27.41 points or 0.08% at 36,167.39. The Nifty 50 index was up 5.15 points or 0.05% at 11,088.85.

The Sensex and the Nifty hit fresh intraday high in early trade. After some profit booking in morning trade, the key benchmarks bounced back in mid-morning trade. The Sensex was trading above 36,000 mark and the Nifty was trading above the 11,000 mark.

The Sensex rose 128.21 points, or 0.35% at the day's high of 36,268.19 in early trade, its record high level. The index fell 103.47 points, or 0.29% at the day's low of 36,036.51 in morning trade. The Nifty rose 26.40 points, or 0.24% at the day's high of 11,110.10 in early trade, its record high level. The index fell 37.55 points, or 0.34% at the day's low of 11,046.15 in morning trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.38%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.49%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The broad market depicted weakness. There were almost two losers against every gainer on BSE. 1,707 shares fell and 891 shares rose. A total of 113 shares were unchanged.

FMCG shares declined. Hindustan Unilever (down 1.67%), Colgate Palmolive (India) (down 0.61%), Dabur India (down 0.55%), Bajaj Corp (down 0.4%), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (down 0.39%), Tata Global Beverages (down 0.33%), Jyothy Laboratories (down 0.26%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.2%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (down 0.09%), Britannia Industries (down 0.04%) and Nestle India (down 0.01%), edged lower. Marico was up 0.29%.

Most realty shares declined. Unitech (down 2.83%), Peninsula Land (down 2.39%), Sobha (down 2.13%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (down 1.55%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (down 1.45%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 1.42%), Parsvnath Developers (down 1.18%), Omaxe (down 1.01%), Anant Raj (down 0.85%), Godrej Properties (down 0.63%), Sunteck Realty (down 0.24%) and D B Realty (down 0.15%), edged lower. Prestige Estates Projects (up 0.27%), DLF (up 0.66%), Oberoi Realty (up 0.84%) and Phoenix Mills (up 0.94%), edged higher.

Oriental Hotels tumbled 7.16% after Reliance Mid & Small Cap Fund sold 1.19 crore shares of the company at Rs 61.50 apiece in a bulk deal on the BSE yesterday, 23 January 2018. Shares of Oriental Hotels had witnessed a sharp rally in the prior four trading sessions to settle at Rs 66.35 yesterday, 23 January 2018, from its close of Rs 53.10 on 17 January 2018.

Alembic jumped 4.59% after net profit jumped 717.6% to Rs 5.56 crore on 11% rise in net sales to Rs 29.93 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 23 January 2018.

Separately, Alembic said that its board of directors approved the proposal for buy-back of 1.02 crore fully paid up equity shares of the company, representing up to 3.84% of the total paid-up equity share capital of the company at a price not exceeding Rs 80 per share payable in cash for a total consideration not exceeding Rs 82 crore, on a proportionate basis through the tender offer route using stock exchange mechanism. The announcement was made market hours yesterday, 23 January 2018. The promoters and the members of the promoter group have indicated their intention to participate in the buyback offer. The buyback price of Rs 80 per share is at a premium of 14.12% over the ruling price.

Overseas, most Asian shares declined on profit booking after recent gains. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.75%. Japan's trade surplus fell sharply in 2017 despite record high exports to China and Asia, while its surplus with the US edged up. Japan's overall balance of trade fell 25% to 2.991 trillion Yen ($27.1 billion). On a monthly basis, exports increased 9.3% in December from a year earlier, for the 13th straight rise. Japan's surplus with the US rose 3.1% to 7.036 trillion Yen, the highest since 2015 and the 12th largest on record.

US stocks closed mixed on Tuesday, with market focus shifting from politics to corporate earnings after a government shutdown came to an end on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.7%.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News