Positive market breadth

Stocks held onto gains in morning trade after an initial upmove. At 10:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 206.97 points or 0.58% at 35,798.22. The Nifty 50 index was up 49.35 points or 0.46% at 10,701.15.

Trading for the day began on a firm note as the key benchmark indices drifted higher in early trade.

The market sentiment was boosted by data showing that foreign funds and domestic funds, both, were net buyers of Indian stocks yesterday, 30 January 2019. The trading activity on that day showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 130.25 crore yesterday, 30 January 2019, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 502.26 crore yesterday, 30 January 2019, as per provisional data.

Trading could be volatile during the day as traders roll over positions in the F&O segment from the near month January 2019 series to February 2019 series. The January 2019 F&O contracts expire today, 31 January 2019.

Investors will focus on interim budget to be announced on Friday, 1 February 2019. The interim budget will be the last one presented by the current NDA government led by Prime Minister Modi, before the 2019 general elections in April. The government is expected to make a host of populist announcements in the budget. It is widely expected that the interim budget may contain tax sops and a certain package for the farm sector.

The Budget session of Parliament will begin from today. The session will begin with the address of President Ram Nath Kovind to the joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament in Central Hall. The session will conclude on 13th of next month.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.43%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.17%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 959 shares rose and 799 shares fell. A total of 87 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks edged higher as the Federal Reserve signaled it is putting further interest-rate increases on hold. US stocks rallied to close higher Wednesday, after scoring a boost from solid corporate results and a seemingly accommodative Federal Reserve.

China's official nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index, a measure of activity outside factory gates, rose to 54.7 in January from 53.8 in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. An official gauge of China's factory activity unexpectedly inched higher from a near-three-year low. January's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index was up a tick at 49.5 from 49.4 in December, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday.

The Fed held rates unchanged at a range of 2.25% to 2.50%, as widely expected, but dropped its longstanding reference to further gradual rate hikes. Instead, it emphasized that it will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal-funds rate may be appropriate to support these outcomes. The central bank also said it would adjust the rate of its balance-sheet runoff, and may even consider ending it.

Meanwhile, US-China trade talks resumed Wednesday as federal prosecutors accused Huawei of violating US sanctions on Iran and of intellectual property theft which had obviously angered the Chinese government. Huawei has denied the allegations.

Back home, Reliance Industries (up 1.54%), Infosys (up 1.46%), Axis Bank (up 1.46%), Hindustan Unilever (up 1.45%) and Tata Motors (up 1.35%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Yes Bank (down 2.91%), Bajaj Finance (down 2.35%), Hero MotoCorp (down 0.97%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.82%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.62%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Power Grid Corporation of India rose 0.83%. The company will announce its October-December 2018 quarterly result today, 31 January 2019.

Vedanta rose 0.08%. The company will announce its October-December 2018 quarterly result today, 31 January 2019.

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