Market turns range bound

Key barometers were hovering in a narrow range with decent gains in early afternoon trade. At 12:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 103.29 points or 0.30% at 34,554.06. The Nifty 50 index was up 9.15 points or 0.09% at 10,593.85.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.18%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.26%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,271 shares rose and 1,144 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

Drug major Dr Reddy's Laboratories was up 1.70%. The company announced during trading hours today, 24 April 2018, that its API Mirfield plant in United Kingdom received an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), indicating closure of the audit.

Gati jumped 16.90% after the company scheduled a board meeting on 26 April 2018 to consider exploring the possibility of inducting a new financial/strategic partner to augment the future growth of the company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 23 April 2018.

Cement shares were mixed. UltraTech Cement (up 0.20%) and ACC (up 0.09%), edged higher. Ambuja Cements was down 0.32%.

Grasim Industries was down 0.33%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement. -

Telecom shares declined. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1.24%), Idea Cellular (down 1.12%) and Reliance Communications (down 1%), edged lower. MTNL was up 0.74%.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel was down 0.78%. The company will announce Q4 results today, 24 April 2018.

Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel lost 1.75% after net profit rose 3.05% to Rs 334.80 crore on 5.78% rise in total income to Rs 1718.20 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 23 April 2018.

Bharti Infratel said that due to loss of 22,134 co-locations during the year on account of five operators ceasing to continue either on account of shutting down operations or merging with others, the financial results for the Q4 March 2018 showed lower growth rates on a Y-o-Y basis.

Consolidated revenues rose 4% to Rs 3662 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017. Consolidated EBITDA rose 1% to Rs 1606 crore. Consolidated EBIT rose 2% to Rs 1020 crore.

The company's board of directors recommended dividend of Rs 14 per equity share for the year ended 31 March 2018.

Akhil Gupta, Chairman, Bharti Infratel said that the year gone by saw unprecedented consolidation in the Indian telecom industry with five operators ceasing to exist either on account of mergers or outright shut down of operations.

Overseas, Asian shares were mixed with a decline in tech shares and rising US bond yields weighing on investor sentiment. Stocks ended on a mixed note as investors grappled with rising bond yields and a mixed bag of earnings reports. The closely watched yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed, settling just below the psychologically important 3% level.

The Chicago Fed national activity index for March declined to 0.10 from 0.98 in February.

Preliminary readings of the manufacturing and services purchasing managers' indexes for April showed that IHS Markit flash manufacturing PMI rose to 56.5 in April from 55.6, while the flash reading for services showed a climb to 54.4 in April from 54.

Meanwhile, existing-home sales in the US increased 1.1% in March from the previous month to a seasonally annual rate of 5.60 million.

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