Market turns range bound

Key benchmark indices were hovering in a narrow range in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 158.73 points or 0.61% at 26,000.65. The Nifty 50 index was up 50.50 points or 0.64% at 7,893.25. The Sensex was currently trading a tad above the psychological 26,000 mark.

In overseas stock markets, European shares were trading higher in early trade today, 20 November 2015, approaching new three-month highs and set for its best week in a month. Asian markets were mostly trading higher. The main US stock indexes finished barely changed yesterday, 19 November 2015, after weakness in the health-care and energy sectors stunted gains.

Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,557 shares rose and 972 shares fell. A total of 231 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 1.08%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.95%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Auto stocks were in demand. Bajaj Auto (up 2.81%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.03%), Maruti Suzuki (India) (up 1.98%), Eicher Motors (up 1.45%), Escorts (up 1.15%), Ashok Leyland (up 0.70%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.33%) and TVS Motor Company (up 0.03%), edged higher. Tata Motors was down 0.01%.

Most IT shares edged higher. Wipro (up 2.39%), TCS (up 2.09%), MindTree (up 1.56%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.90%), Infosys (up 0.86%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.47%), Persistent Systems (up 0.34%) and CMC (up 0.03%), edged higher. Hexaware Technologies (down 0.62%), HCL Technologies (down 1.03%) and MphasiS (down 1.82%), edged lower.

On the economic front, the Seventh Central Pay Commission has proposed a hefty 23.55% hike in salary, allowances and pension for 4.8 million government employees and 5.5 million pensioners. If accepted, the recommendations of the commission, headed by retired judge A K Mathur, would be effective from 1 January 2016, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday, 19 November 2015. The total financial impact would be Rs 1.02 lakh crore during FY 2016-17. Of the total financial impact of Rs 1.02 lakh crore, Rs 73650 crore will be borne by the General Budget and Rs 28450 crore by the Railway Budget, the statement said.

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