Realty stocks nudge higher

Key benchmark indices extended intraday slide in mid-morning trade. At 11:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 155.48 points or 0.55% at 27,974.36. The Nifty 50 index was currently down 38.60 points or 0.44% at 8,660.80. The Sensex was currently trading below the psychologically important 28,000 level. The index swung above and below that level in intraday trade so far. The Sensex lost 162.26 points or 0.57% at the day's low of 27,967.58 in mid-morning trade, its lowest level since 19 October 2016. The barometer index rose 33.57 points or 0.11% at the day's high of 28,163.41 in opening trade. The Nifty lost 42.95 points or 0.49% at the day's low of 8,656.45 in mid-morning trade, its lowest level since 19 October 2016. The index rose 9.70 points or 0.11% at the day's high of 8,709.10 in early trade.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market once again turned positive from negative in mid-morning trade. On BSE, 1,141 shares rose and 1,119 shares declined. A total of 166 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently down 0.18%. The decline in this index was lower than Sensex's decline in percentage terms. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.06%, outperforming the Sensex.

Realty stocks edged higher. Unitech (up 2.01%), Godrej Properties (up 1.67%), DLF (up 1.3%), Oberoi Realty (up 1.08%), Housing Development & Infrastructure (up 0.38%), D B Realty (up 0.21%) and Prestige Estates Projects (up 0.37%) rose. Sobha (down 0.31%) and Indiabulls Real Estate (down 0.3%) edged lower.

Auto stocks were mixed. Tata Motors (down 0.87%), Eicher Motors (down 0.32%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 0.27%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 0.12%) edged lower. Ashok Leyland (up 0.58%), TVS Motor Company (up 0.29%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.1%) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.01%) edged higher.

Praj Industries dropped 4.88% after consolidated net profit fell 39.32% to Rs 3.04 crore on 1.79% fall in income from operations to Rs 205.79 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015. Consolidated order backlog as on 30 September 2016 stood at Rs 1025 crore, which comprised 72% orders from domestic market. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 20 October 2016.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks were trading mixed. US stocks registered small losses yesterday, 20 October 2016, after a sharp fall in oil prices, while investors parsed through key US economic data.

In Europe, as widely expected, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept its policy rate unchanged after a meeting yesterday, 20 October 2016. Though ECB left its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged, President Mario Draghi said the European region's central bank had left the door open to more monetary stimulus.

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