Sensex, Nifty hit day's high; breadth strong

Key barometers extended early gains and hit an intraday high in morning trade. The Nifty crossed the 11,600 mark. At 10:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 147.98 points or 0.38% at 39,200.04. The Nifty 50 index was up 43.70 points or 0.38% at 11,630.05. Global investor sentiment was upbeat after the UK and European Union's draft Brexit deal on Thursday.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.17%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.15%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1284 shares rose and 498 shares fell. A total of 94 shares were unchanged.

The market sentiment was also boosted by foreign funds turning net buyers of Indian stocks in the past few sessions. The trading activity showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1158.63 crore yesterday, 17 October 2019, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Traders awaited fresh cues on potential trade deal between the US and China. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will today, 18 October 2019, announce the minutes of its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review meeting held on 4 October 2019.

Index pivotal Reliance Industries (RIL) was up 1.30% ahead of its Q2 results today.

Ambuja Cements (up 0.24%), ICICI Lombard General Insurance (down 0.3%), L&T Finance Holding (up 0.35%), L&T Technology Services (up 1.63%) and Central Depository Services (up 0.84%) will announce their Q2 2019 earnings today.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech was up 6%. On consolidated basis, the net profit rose 1.2% to Rs 360.1 crore in Q2 September 2019 as against Q1 June 2019. The company's total income rose 3.03% to Rs 2664.40 crore on QoQ basis. In a separate announcement, the company approved 100% acquisition of PowerupCloud Technologies. This acquisition will help LTI strengthen its cloud services capabilities through a combination of right leadership, assets and ecosystem connects.

Nocil was up 2.14%. The company announced the commencement of trial production at the company's Phase II plant situated at Dahej, in the state of Gujarat. The company further reported that commercial production will start on receipt of approvals from major customers.

The Nifty Metal index was up 1.39% at 2,444.45, extending previous session's gains. Hindustan Copper (up 15.02%), National Aluminium Company (up 5.69%), Steel Authority of India (up 5.51%), NMDC (up 3.38%), Hindustan Zinc (up 2.81%), Vedanta (up 1.92%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.39%) and Hindalco Industries (up 0.32%) advanced.

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