Realty stocks decline

Key benchmark indices hovered in positive zone in afternoon trade supported by steady buying in index heavyweights ITC, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 161.66 points or 0.54% at 30,104.90. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 42.15 points or 0.45% at 9,348.75. The Sensex was trading above the psychologically important 30,000 mark. The Sensex and the Nifty, both, hit their record high levels in early afternoon trade. Positive Asian stocks boosted market sentiment.

The Sensex rose 203.30 points, or 0.68% at the day's high of 30,146.54 in early afternoon trade, its record high level. The index rose 61.04 points, or 0.20% at the day's low of 30,004.28 in early trade. The Nifty rose 57.15 points, or 0.61% at the day's high of 9,363.75 in early afternoon trade, its record high level. The index fell 5.25 points, or 0.06% at the day's low of 9,301.35 in early trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.18%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.03%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,634 shares fell and 1,134 shares rose. A total of 137 shares were unchanged. The market breadth was strong in morning trade.

Auto stocks saw mixed trend. Tata Motors (up 1.76%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.11%), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (up 2.52%) and TVS Motor Company (up 2.67%) gained. Eicher Motors (down 0.23%), Ashok Leyland (down 0.17%), Escorts (down 0.69%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.03%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 0.26%) fell.

Realty stocks fell. DLF (down 0.62%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (down 1.44%), D B Realty (down 2.26%), Unitech (down 2.22%), Sobha (down 1.39%), Godrej Properties (down 1.46%), Prestige Estates Projects (down 1.8%), and Parsvnath Developers (down 1.89%) edged lower. Oberoi Realty (up 0.87%) and Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.83%) rose.

V-Mart Retail gained 3% after the company said that it has opened a new store in Uttar Pradesh. The new store opened is a fashion store. With this, the tally of stores in Uttar Pradesh is 17 composite & 44 fashion stores. This takes the total number of stores to 143 stores in 122 cities across 14 states, with 37 composite stores & 106 fashion stores with a total area of about 12.1 lakhs square feel, company said. The announcement was made during market hours today, 26 April 2017.

Overseas, European stocks were steady to lower, as markets eyed a fresh batch of corporate earnings reports, although the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday still lent some support. Asian indices traded higher following the rise in US stocks on the back of strong earnings announcements and on expectations for US President Donald Trump's impending tax reforms. In the US, stocks soared as McDonald's and Caterpillar reported strong earnings, with the Nasdaq surpassing the 6,000 mark for the first time. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 1.12% to close at 20,996.12.

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