Positive market breadth

Stocks further trimmed gains in early afternoon trade after a strong intraday rally propelled the key indices to record high. At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 232.79 points or 0.6% at 39,343. The Nifty 50 index was up 93.40 points or 0.8% at 11,831.30. Shares of Adani group companies rose on fresh buying demand. Telecom stocks gained.

Trading for the day began on a strong note as election results showed the Narendra Modi-led NDA leading in early trends. Stocks extended gains in morning trade after election trends showed that Narendra Modi-led NDA is leading in over 300 seats.

Key indices trimmed gains in volatile trade soon after scaling fresh record high in mid-morning trade. The Sensex had scaled record high above the psychological 40,000 mark while the Nifty also scaled fresh record high above the psychological 12,000 mark in mid-morning trade.

Investors are closely watching results of Lok Sabha 2019 polls. Counting is votes is underway today, 23 May 2019. Latest trends showed that NDA is leading in 345 seats, while UPA is leading in 89 and others leading in 108 seats.

The 2019 polls, held from April 11 to May 19, will decide which party presides over the 17th Lok Sabha. Elections were held for 542 seats. A party or coalition needs 272 seats in parliament to form a government.

The 2014 elections brought Narendra Modi to power with a thunderous majority of 336 seats to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won 60 seats. The remaining 147 seats were claimed by others.

Coming back to today's trade, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.4%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.21%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1204 shares rose and 1082 shares fell. A total of 144 shares were unchanged.

Telecom stocks gained. Bharti Airtel (up 1.16%), Vodafone Idea (up 1.23%), MTNL (up 2.9%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.38%) and Reliance Communications (up 2.42%) rose.

Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 2.3%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Shares of Adani group companies rose on fresh buying demand. Adani Enterprises (up 4.94%), Adani Gas (up 3.4%), Adani Power (up 2.88%), Adani Green Energy (up 0.68%), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 6.26%) and Adani Transmission (up 3.12%) edged higher.

TD Power Systems rose 7.29% after consolidated net profit rose 313.44% to Rs 15.38 crore on 25.67% rise in net sales to Rs 200.82 crore in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 22 May 2019.

Bodal Chemicals fell 1.19%. Bodal Chemicals said it plans to acquire 80% stake in Turkey-based Sener Bova Kimya Tekstil Sanayi Ve Ticaret for Rs 32 crore. The target company deals in the marketing, purchase and sale of various dyestuff and other chemicals in Turkey and surrounding countries. Acquisition to be completed within the next five months. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 22 May 2019.

Overseas, Asian stocks fell on Thursday as worries over U.S.-China tensions grew. A private survey suggested that Japan's manufacturing contracted in May. The Markit/JMMA flash purchasing managers' index fell to 49.6 in May from 50.2 in the previous month.

U.S. stocks finished lower Wednesday as lingering trade woes overshadowed the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's policy meeting that was largely interpreted as accommodative.

Minutes for the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee's April 30-May 1 meeting indicated that the voting members agreed the current accommodative policy can remain for now and that they were comfortable with the wait-and-see approach. They were, however, split on whether higher rates were necessary if the economy continued to evolved along the predicted path while others argued that higher productivity could indicate more economic softness than the low unemployment rate suggests.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News