Range bound trading continues

The Sensex and the Nifty continued trading higher in a narrow range in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 120.44 points or 0.36% at 33,908.98. The Nifty 50 index was up 35.95 points or 0.35% at 10,415.30. Shares across the globe edged higher after a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping calmed investor jitters over an escalating US-China trade row.

The market opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Indices pared gains in mid-morning trade as profit selling emerged at higher levels. The market turned range bound since early afternoon trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.22%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.10%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,336 shares fell and 1,269 shares rose. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

Cement shares were mixed. ACC (down 0.35%) and Ambuja Cements (down 0.63%), edged lower. UltraTech Cement was up 0.43%. Grasim Industries was up 0.35%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Auto shares were trading lower. Escorts (down 1.62%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.54%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.51%), Tata Motors (down 1.2%), Ashok Leyland (down 0.68%) and TVS Motor Company (down 0.66%) edged lower. Bajaj Auto (up 0.13%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.50%), edged higher.

Maruti Suzuki India was down 0.13%. The company announced that Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) has started export of the all-new Swift produced at Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG), SMC's 100% subsidiary to produce automobiles in India. Production of the all-new Swift started at SMG in January 2018. It was shipped from Mumbai Port to South Africa, with Maruti Suzuki as its merchant exporter. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 10 April 2018.

Overseas, European shares rose on Tuesday, led higher by gains in Bayer after a report that the US approved its takeover of Monsanto, while a solid update from LVMH lifted luxury sector stocks.

Asian markets advanced as investors digested comments from Chinese President Xi Jinping on measures planned to further open up the Chinese economy. Those measures, which Xi brought up in his speech at the Boao Forum for Asia, included lowering import tariffs for autos and other products, as well as enforcing legal intellectual property of foreign firms.

US stock futures also edged up amid improved investor confidence. Dow Jones industrial average futures were higher by 254 points in Asian trade.

US stock market finished well off session highs on Monday following a report that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officers had raided the office of Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime personal lawyer. US stocks had rallied earlier in the session as comments from Trump and administration officials alleviated fears about rising trade hostilities between the US and China.

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