Sensex, Nifty hover near day's high

Key indices were hovering near the day's high in early afternoon trade. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 333.43 points or 0.92% at 36,383.87. The Nifty 50 index was up 88 points or 0.79% at 11,157.65.

Key indices opened higher and firmed up further as the session progressed. Optimistic buying activity ahead of the presentation of Economic Survey in the Parliament today, 29 January 2018, and the Union budget on Thursday, 1 February 2018, buoyed the trading sentiment.

The Sensex rose 360.16 points, or 1% at the day's high of 36,410.6 in mid-morning trade, its record high level. The index rose 42.92 points, or 0.12% at the day's low of 36,093.36 in early trade. The Nifty rose 94.10 points, or 0.85% at the day's high of 11,163.75 in early afternoon trade, its record high level. The index rose 6.30 points, or 0.06% at the day's low of 11,075.95 in early trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.19%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.01%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,308 shares rose and 1,289 shares fell. A total of 160 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian shares were mixed after several stocks gave up gains from upbeat openings that tracked Friday's rally on Wall Street. US stocks surged on Friday, 26 January 2018. A reading of fourth-quarter gross domestic product came in slightly softer than expected but was viewed by investors as healthy enough to perceive that the economy is on firm footing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.85%. The S&P 500 index climbed 1.18%. The Nasdaq Composite Index surged 1.28%.

US gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter rose 2.6% as consumption and business activity picked up.

Back home, cement shares were in demand. UltraTech Cement (up 0.72%), ACC (up 0.20%) and Ambuja Cements (up 0.08%), edged higher.

Grasim Industries was up 0.76%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Telecom shares were mixed. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.70%) and MTNL (up 2.36%), edged higher. Reliance Communications (down 2.82%), Bharti Airtel (down 2.18%) and Idea Cellular (down 1.63%), edged lower. Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was up 0.36%.

Jindal Steel & Power fell 2.45% to Rs 273.25 after the company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 272.73 crore in Q3 December 2017, lower than net loss of Rs 453.26 crore in Q3 December 2016. Consolidated net sales rose 30.3% to Rs 6903.79 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016. The result was announced after market hours on Thursday, 25 January 2018.

Steel Strips Wheels gained 1.87% to Rs 1123.90 after the company announced that it has bagged another order of caravan wheels from Europe. Steel Strips Wheels (SSWL) announced that it has bagged yet another exports order for supply of steel wheels for European Union (EU) caravan market. The order comprises of 17,000 steel wheels to be shipped from SSWL's Chennai plant in the month of March 2018. SSWL has already established itself as a leading supplier of caravan Steel wheels in European region. The announcement was made during market hours today, 29 January 2018.

On the macro front, the total revenue received under Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the month of December 2017 (received in December/January up to 24 January 2018) has been Rs 86703 crore till 24 January 2018. The last date for filing of GSTR 3B return for the month of December 2017 was 22 January 2018, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on 25 January 2018.

The next major trigger for the market is Union Budget 2018-2019, which will be presented by the finance minister Arun Jaitley in the parliament on Thursday, 1 February 2018.

President Ram Nath Kovind will address the joint sitting of the two Houses today, 29 January 2018, and the Economic Survey will be tabled on the same day. The first phase of the budget session of the parliament will be held from 29 January 2018 to 9 February 2018. After a recess, Parliament will meet again from 5 March 2018 to 6 April 2018, as per reports.

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