Market drifts higher in early trade

Domestic stocks edged higher in early trade on positive Asian stocks. At 9:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 119.75 points or 0.38% at 31,711.78. The Nifty 50 index was up 46.60 points or 0.47% at 9,935.30.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.61%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.84%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,209 shares rose and 361 shares fell. A total of 50 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks followed their US counterparts higher after a slew of data and comments from Federal Reserve officials helped ratchet up bets that the US economy is strong enough to withstand higher interest rates. China and South Korea markets remain closed.

US stock-market indexes posted solid gains and closed at all-time highs yesterday, 5 October 2017 fueled by gains in technology stocks including Netflix, Microsoft and Amazon.com. After a House vote, the Senate approved a budget bill yesterday, 5 October 2017. Republicans passed tax cuts through what is known as budget reconciliation, which requires just a simple majority in the Senate. Republicans currently control the Senate with 52 seats.

Meanwhile, economic data released yesterday, 5 October 2017 pointed to underlying strength in the economy despite weather-related disruptions, with the trade deficit narrowing in August and jobless claims falling more than expected last week. The US trade deficit dropped 2.7% in August to $42.4 billion from $43.6 billion in July. Separately, initial jobless claims, a tool to measure US layoffs, fell by 12,000 to 260,000 at the end of September. The number of people already collecting unemployment benefits, known as continuing claims, fell slightly to 1.94 million.

Back home, ONGC (up 1.67%), NTPC (up 1.29%) and State Bank of India (up 0.9%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Tata Steel gained 1.48% after the company announced production and sales numbers for Q2 September 2017. The company's sales rose 15.73% to 6.4 million tonnes in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016. Production grew by 4.71% to 6.22 million tonnes in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 5 October 2017.

Bank of Baroda rose 0.64%. The bank revised lower its Marginal Cost of Funds Based Lending Rates (MCLR) across various maturities by 5 basis points effective 7 October 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 5 October 2017.

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