Market drifts higher in early trade

Trading for the week began on an upbeat note as stocks edged higher in early trade boosted by the Narendra Modi government winning the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Friday, 20 July 2018. At 9:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 78.21 points or 0.21% at 36,574.58. The Nifty 50 index was up 27.65 points or 0.25% at 11,037.85.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.76%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.32%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 793 shares rose and 391 shares fell. A total of 53 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed after the Bank of Japan offered to buy bonds at the first fixed-rate operation since February, in a sign the central bank was trying to rein yields. US stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, 20 July 2018 after President Donald Trump's latest verbal salvos fanned investor concern that a global trade war is escalating.

Back home, HDFC Bank fell 1.26%. The bank's net profit rose 18.17% to Rs 4601.44 crore on 18.85% increase in total income to Rs 26367.04 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q1 June 2017. The result was announced on Saturday, 20 July 2018.

Wipro slumped 5.05%. On a consolidated basis, Wipro's net profit rose 16.27% to Rs 2093.80 crore on 1.52% increase in net sales to Rs 13977.70 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q4 March 2018. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 20 July 2018.

IT services segment revenue rose 2.2% to Rs 13700 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q4 March 2018. Wipro expects revenue from its IT services business to be in the range of $2,009 million to $2,049 million. This translates to a sequential growth of 0.3% to 2.3%, excluding the impact of the divestment of its hosted data center services business which concluded in the quarter ended 30 June 2018.

On the political front, the Narendra Modi government won the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Friday, 20 July 2018 following a 12-hour debate in the Lower House. In a 451-member House that voted, 126 members voted in favour of the motion, 325 votes went against it. The no-confidence motion was brought by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and supported by several Opposition parties including the Congress.

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