Positive market breadth

Firmness prevailed on the bourses in mid-afternoon trade on sustained buying demand in index pivotals. At 14:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 241.60 points or 0.68% at 35,698.76. The Nifty 50 index was up 58.70 points or 0.55% at 10,740.90. Shares of index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC gained. Most FMCG stocks rose.

Domestic stocks opened on a firm note on buying demand in index pivotals. Stocks trimmed gains in morning trade. Indices hovered in a small range with positive bias in mid-morning trade. Key indices hovered with modest gains in early afternoon and afternoon trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.4%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.42%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,274 shares rose and 1,230 shares fell. A total of 167 shares were unchanged.

Tata Motors (up 2.45%), IndusInd Bank (up 2.21%), Vedanta (up 2.18%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.84%) and M&M (up 1.52%) were the major Sensex gainers.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries gained 1.33% to Rs 1,142.35

Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC advanced 2.21% to Rs 282.35

Most FMCG stocks rose. Dabur India (up 2.46%), Britannia Industries (up 1.07%), GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (up 0.13%), Colgate-Palmolive (India) (up 0.59%), Hindustan Unilever (up 0.43%), Marico (up 1.31%), Tata Global Beverages (up 1.22%), Jyothy Laboratories (up 1%) and Bajaj Corp (up 0.28%) rose. Nestle India (down 3.33%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.46%) and Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (down 0.78%) fell.

Surya Roshni rose 2.45%. Surya Roshni said that it has obtained an order aggregating to Rs 59 crore for design, manufacture, testing, supply, operation and maintenance (O&M) of LED street lights & poles and other related works for implementation of greenfield street lighting projects for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Odisha from Government of Odisha, Housing & Urban Department. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 19 November 2018.

On the political front, second phase of assembly elections will be held in Chhattisgarh tomorrow, 20 November 2018. Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram will be held on 28 November 2018. Polling in Rajasthan and Telangana will be held on 7 December 2018. Counting of votes will be held across all the five states on 11 December 2018.

Overseas, European shares rose as signs of an easing in US-China trade war tensions boosted mining and technology stocks. In Europe, investors were closely watching developments in the UK, with Prime Minister Theresa May defiantly pledging her commitment to seeing Britain's exit from the European Union, despite several top-level resignations and growing doubts about her leadership.

Asian stocks were trading higher. On the data front, Japan's monthly balance of trade tumbled to a deficit of 449 billion yen ($3.95 billion) in October amid elevated trade tensions and ramped up pressure to cut its trade surplus with the US, data from the country's finance ministry showed Monday.

US stocks closed mostly higher on Friday, 16 November 2018 after comments from President Donald Trump once again sparked hopes that a trade dispute with China could be resolved in the near term. But the Nasdaq bucked the trend to finish lower as a decline in chip maker shares, led by Nvidia Corp., dented sentiment in the technology sector.

Industrial production rose just 0.1% in October, the Federal Reserve reported Friday. Compared to 12 months earlier, industrial production rose 4.1%.

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