Market pares early gains

The market pared gains in mid-morning trade as profit booking emerged at higher levels. At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 156.72 points or 0.44% at 36,137.65. The Nifty 50 index was up 34.50 points or 0.32% at 10,836.65. The Sensex was trading above 36,000 mark. The Nifty was trading above 10,800 mark. Investors sentiment was strong amid a firm trend overseas, supported by rising hopes that the US and China would strike a deal to end their trade war.

Indices opened higher and continued trading on a firm note in morning trade. Indices pared gains in mid-morning trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.07%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.01%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1061 shares rose and 1017 shares fell. A total of 128 shares were unchanged.

Most IT shares advanced. Tech Mahindra (up 1.25%), Wipro (up 1.01%), MindTree (up 0.96%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.24%) and Hexaware Technologies (up 0.03%), edged higher. HCL Technologies (down 0.77%), MphasiS (down 1.1%) and Persistent Systems (down 1.2%), edged lower.

Infosys rose 2.11%. The company announced that its board will consider proposals, including but not limited to, buyback of fully paid-up equity shares of the company, payment of special dividend, for implementation of the Capital Allocation Policy at its meeting to be held on 11 January 2019. The outcome of the board meeting will be disseminated to the stock exchanges after conclusion of the board meeting on January 11, 2019. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 8 January 2019.

Infosys will announce Q3 December 2018 results on Friday, 11 January 2019.

TCS rose 0.90%. TCS will announce Q3 December 2018 results on Thursday, 10 January 2019.

Pharmaceutical shares were mixed. Alkem Laboratories (up 1.14%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.93%), IPCA Laboratories (up 0.87%), Piramal Enterprises (up 0.85%), Divi's Laboratories (up 0.58%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.55%), Strides Shasun (up 0.26%) and Aurobindo Pharma (up 0.24%), edged higher. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.11%), Cadila Healthcare (down 0.19%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.51%), Cipla (down 0.62%), Lupin (down 0.74%) and Wockhardt (down 0.8%), edged lower.

Meanwhile, India's GDP is expected to grow at 7.3% in the fiscal year 2018-19, and 7.5% in the following two years, the World Bank has forecast, attributing it to an upswing in consumption and investment growth. The World Bank said India will continue to be the fastest growing major economy in the world.

Overseas, Asian shares rose on Wednesday, as investors remained cautiously optimistic Beijing and Washington could move forward on a trade deal. Investors will be watching out for developments on the US-China trade front after negotiations between the world's two largest economies extended into an unscheduled third day.

US stocks closed higher for a third straight session Tuesday as optimism over US-China trade talks bolstered sentiment.

On the US data front, small-business optimism fell in December, according to the National Federation of Independent Business small-business optimism index, which decreased 0.4 points to a seasonally adjusted level of 104.4, its lowest in 14 months.

The number of new job openings fell to its lowest level since June, at 6.89 million, down from 7.13 million in October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The Census Bureau was scheduled to release data on the trade deficit Tuesday morning, but the release was delayed due to the government shutdown.

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