Market turns range bound

After extending gains in morning trade, key benchmark indices traded in a narrow range in mid-morning trade. At 11:17 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 113 points or 0.45% at 25,451.58. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 34 points or 0.44% at 7,769.20.

Earlier, the Sensex and the Nifty, both, hit their highest level in more than 12 weeks. The Sensex rose 141.04 points, or 0.56% at the day's high of 25,479.62 in morning trade, its highest level since 6 January 2016. The index rose 2.89 points, or 0.01% at the day's low of 25,341.47 in early trade. The Nifty rose 33.70 points, or 0.44% at the day's high of 7,768.90 in morning trade, its highest level since 6 January 2016. The index fell 9.70 points, or 0.13% at the day's low of 7,725.50 in early trade.

The market may remain volatile as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month March 2016 series to April 2016 series. The March 2016 derivatives contracts are set to expire today, 31 March 2016.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,215 shares rose and 828 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.27%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.55%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

In the overseas stock markets, Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend. US stocks extended gains for the third day yesterday, 30 March 2016, although shares ended well off their day's highs amid a dip in crude oil prices. Sentiment was underpinned by data from payroll firm ADP showing slightly stronger than expected private sector job growth in March.

Index heavyweight and engineering & construction major L&T was almost flat at Rs 1,227. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,229.80 and a low of Rs 1,217.10 so far during the day. The company announced that its construction arm won orders worth Rs 2271 crore across its various businesses.

Most realty shares edged higher. Oberoi Realty (up 3.63%), Godrej Properties (up 2.27%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (up 1.99%), Peninsula Land (up 1.13%), Parsvnath Developers (up 0.53%), Anant Raj (up 0.30%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 0.21%), Sobha (up 0.18%) and Sunteck Realty (up 0.13%), edged higher. Indiabulls Real Estate (down 0.63%), Unitech (down 0.99%), DLF (down 1.13%), Phoenix Mills (down 1.3%), D B Realty (down 2.79%) and Prestige Estates Projects (down 3%), edged lower.

IT shares were mixed. Infosys (up 1.64%), TCS (up 1.35%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.04%), Hexaware Technologies (up 1.02%), Persistent Systems (up 0.60%) and Wipro (up 0.28%), edged higher. HCL Technologies (down 0.08%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.1%), MphasiS (down 1.3%) and MindTree (down 1.81%), edged lower.

Natco Pharma gained 4.77% after the company's board of directors approved the sale of Save Mart Pharmacy Stores located in USA, which is a non-core business of the company. The Save Mart Pharmacy Stores is being owned by Natco Pharma Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 30 March 2016.

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