Sensex, Nifty firm up

The market firmed up and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade on positive cues from other Asian stocks. At 10:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 133.18 points or 0.40% at 33,269.36. The Nifty 50 index was up 35.65 points or 0.35% at 10,190.90.

After a dull opening, key indices firmed up and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. The Sensex rose 145.59 points, or 0.44% at the day's high of 33281.77 in morning trade. The index fell 28.86 points, or 0.09% at the day's low of 33,107.32 in early trade. The Nifty rose 52.60 points, or 0.52% at the day's high of 10,207.85 in morning trade. The index fell 7.85 points, or 0.08% at the day's low of 10,147.40 in early trade.

Broader market, however, witnessed selling pressure. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.24%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.10%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On BSE, 1038 shares fell and 1006 shares rose. A total of 128 shares were unchanged.

Metal shares were mixed. Jindal Steel & Power (down 0.91%), Tata Steel (down 0.88%), Hindalco Industries (down 0.42%), JSW Steel (down 0.24%), National Aluminium Company (down 0.15%) and Steel Authority of India (down 0.14%), edged lower. Hindustan Copper (up 0.15%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.26%), NMDC (up 0.33%) and Vedanta (up 0.63%), edged higher.

Most power generation stocks fell. CESC (down 1.96%), Torrent Power (down 1.1%), NTPC (down 0.65%), JSW Energy (down 0.6%), GMR Infrastructure (down 0.28%), Reliance Power (down 0.25%) and Reliance Infrastructure (down 0.17%), edged lower. Adani Power (up 0.19%), Tata Power (up 0.19%) and Jaiprakash Power Ventures (up 1.37%), edged higher.

State-run Coal India was up 0.22%. State-run Power Grid Corporation of India was down 0.54%.

Overseas, most Asian shares were trading higher after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time this year. US stocks ended a volatile session slightly lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve delivered its sixth interest-rate increase since the end of 2015 and signaled it still expects to deliver two more before the end of the year.

The Fed raised overnight rates by 25 basis points, in line with market expectations. Central bank officials also raised their GDP forecast. Fed officials also released their projections for the federal funds rate, which remained unchanged for 2018. The central bank, however, raised its 2019 forecast, saying it sees the benchmark rate at 2.9%, up from a 2.7% projection released in December.

In US, the current-account deficit rose by 26% in the fourth quarter, widening to $128.20 billion from a revised $101.5 billion in the third quarter. Existing-home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.54 million in February.

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