Positive market breadth

Stocks extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 272.54 points or 0.76% at 36,144.02. The Nifty 50 index was up 67.45 points or 0.63% at 10,859.10. Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Positive global stocks boosted sentiment on the domestic bourses.

The Sensex was currently trading above the psychological 36,000 mark after moving above and below that level in intraday trade. Trading for the day began on a positive note as the key benchmark indices drifted higher in early trade on positive Asian stocks. Stocks trimmed gains in morning trade after an initial upmove. Stocks regained strength in mid-morning trade. Key indices hovered in positive zone in early afternoon trade. The market further extended gains in afternoon trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.45%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.72%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1479 shares rose and 1017 shares fell. A total of 152 shares were unchanged.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone fell 8.03%. Adani Logistics, a 100% subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, announced its intent to acquire Adani Agri Logistics from Adani Enterprises (AEL). The acquisition will be an all cash deal and is expected to be completed by March 2019. The transaction is proposed at an enterprise value of Rs 1662 crore.

Adani Agri Logistics (AALL) is the pioneer in providing efficient storage through silos and transportation by rail. The company has 1.58 MMT fully contracted capacity with modern agri infrastructure of 7 trains, 28 storage / handling infrastructure facilities across 10 states. AALL has long term (20-30 year) guaranteed offtake contracts on use or pay basis with 70%+ EBITDA margins. AALL targets to double infrastructure capacity in the next 3 years and tap the new 12.5 MMT infrastructure market as well as opportunities such as conventional storage conversion, among others. Combined business would also benefit from leveraging significant opportunity for handling multiple commodities and transportation, the company said in a statement.

Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Bharti Airtel (up 1.1%) and Vodafone Idea (up 0.33%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 1.16%) rose. Reliance Communications (down 8.56%) and MTNL (down 2.84%) fell.

Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 3.06%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Bharat Electronics rose 1.78%. Bharat Electronics received export orders valued about $33 million from Elbit Systems ElectroOptics Elop (ELOP), a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, Israel, on 21 February 2019, at Aero India 2019, Bengaluru, for the manufacture and supply of EOIR payloads (CoMPASS Rev III, Trade Mark of ELOP) and another variant of EOIR payload (CoMPASS III, Trade Mark of ELOP) for Airborne applications. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 February 2019.

Overseas, European and Asian stocks moved higher Monday as investors monitored the ongoing China-U.S. trade talks. US stocks closed higher Friday, thanks to optimism over U.S.-China trade talks.

In Europe, British Prime Minister Theresa May reportedly announced Sunday that she is delaying a vote on her Brexit deal in Parliament, saying it should now take place by March 12, a little more than two weeks before the U.K. is due to leave the European Union. British lawmakers will consider various Brexit options this week as May continues to seek concessions from her EU counterparts. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29.

U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly announced Sunday evening that America is planning to delay a set of additional tariffs on Chinese goods that were due to kick in on March 1. Trump cited substantial progress in bilateral talks between the world's two largest economies, including intellectual property protection and technology transfer issues. As a result, the president said he would suspend the new levies, however he did not state a new deadline.

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