Key benchmarks turn negative

The market reversed early gains and slipped into negative terrain in morning trade tracking mixed cues from other Asian stocks. At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 32.18 points or 0.09% at 34,151.86. The Nifty 50 index was down 4.40 points or 0.04% at 10,488.45. Losses were limited following better-than-expected domestic economic growth.

Trading was quite volatile. The Sensex rose 94.59 points, or 0.28% at the day's high of 34,278.63 in early trade. The index fell 77.26 points, or 0.23% at the day's low of 34,106.78 in morning trade. The Nifty rose 32.65 points, or 0.31% at the day's high of 10,525.50 in early trade. The index fell 20.20 points, or 0.19% at the day's low of 10,472.65 in morning trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.01%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.41%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,280 shares rose and 851 shares fell. A total of 113 shares were unchanged.

Most metal shares rose. Tata Steel (up 0.88%), JSW Steel (up 0.87%), NMDC (up 0.77%), Vedanta (up 0.47%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.41%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.30%) and Hindustan Zinc (up 0.14%), edged higher. National Aluminium Company (down 0.58%) and Hindalco Industries (down 0.18%), edged lower.

Ashoka Buildcon jumped 4.94% after the company announced winning of highway projects in India. Ashoka Buildcon announced before market hours today, 1 March 2018 that its subsidiary viz. Ashoka Concessions (ACL) emerged as the lowest bidder at the financial bid opening meeting held on 28 February 2018 at New Delhi for the project of six laning of road in Jharkhand under NHDP Phase-V on hybrid annuity mode of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The company quoted bid project cost is Rs 860.10 crore.

Separately, Ashoka Buildcon announced during market hours today, 1 March 2018 that the company as an operations and maintenance (O&M) partner, along with MAIF 2 Investments India 2 Pte (MAIF-2) has participated in request for proposal issued by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for Projects comprising of 9 National Highway stretches (Bundle 1) on Toll Operate Transfer Mode in India. MAIF-2 has emerged as the winning bidder for the project. EPC in the first two years is of Rs 1025 crore for the project and the company will be preferred partner for O& M of the project for 30 years.

Dilip Buildcon rose 1.57% after the company was declared lowest bidder by the National Highways Authority of India for three new hybrid annuity projects valued at Rs 5390 crore in Karnataka and Jharkhand respectively. The announcement was made before market hours today, 1 March 2018.

On the macro front, India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth further accelerated to 7.2% in Q3 December 2017, showing improvement from 6.5% growth in the preceding last quarter and 6.8% in the corresponding quarter last year. The GDP growth stood at 6.4% in April-December 2017, compared with 7.5% recorded in the corresponding period last year. The GDP growth estimate for 2017-18 has been revised upwards to 6.6% at second advances estimates level from 6.5% at first advance estimate level released in early January 2018.

Meanwhile, the output of eight core infrastructure sector comprising 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), improved to 6.7% in January 2018 over January 2017.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed, tracking overnight slide in US equities. Growth in China's manufacturing sector unexpectedly picked up to a six-month high in February. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) edged up to 51.6 last month, from 51.5 in January. The 50-mark divides expansion from contraction on a monthly basis.

US stocks ended lower on Wednesday, as Wall Street digested data that were seen as underlining the economy's robust health. Strong economy could warrant the Federal Reserve to turn more hawkish.

In the latest economic data, the pace of growth in the US economy was trimmed to 2.5% from 2.6% in the fourth quarter, largely because of a slower buildup in inventories of unsold goods.

Separately, the Chicago PMI came in at 61.9 in February. Pending-home sales fell 4.7% in January, the lowest reading since October 2014, and the biggest monthly decline since 2010.

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