Sensex, Nifty pare gains; breadth turns negative

Key benchmarks trimmed gains in mid-morning trade. At 11:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 198.52 points or 0.55% at 36,393.62. The Nifty 50 index was up 48.60 points or 0.45% at 10,898.40. The Nifty was trading below 10,900 mark after crossing that level in early trade.

Indices opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Indices trimmed gains in mid-morning trade.

Broader market slipped into negative terrain. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.08%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.02%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On BSE, 1001 shares rose and 1047 shares fell. A total of 140 shares were unchanged.

IT shares advanced. Persistent Systems (up 2.04%), HCL Technologies (up 1.66%), TCS (up 1.25%), Wipro (up 1.18%), MphasiS (up 0.63%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.59%), MindTree (up 0.51%) and Infosys (up 0.18%), edged higher. Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.23%) and Hexaware Technologies (down 0.46%), edged lower.

Auto shares were mixed. Tata Motors (up 1.23%), Eicher Motors (up 0.64%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.54%) and Escorts (up 0.54%), edged higher. Mahindra & Mahindra (down 0.03%), Ashok Leyland (down 0.41%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.08%) and TVS Motor Company (down 1.61%), edged lower.

Car major Maruti Suzuki India was up 0.88% ahead of its Q3 results later today, 25 January 2019.

Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation rose 8.09% after the company said that it was made aware about some rumours in capital market with respect to the outstanding commercial papers. The company clarified after market hours yesterday, 24 January 2019, that it has been repaying commercial papers in accordance with the due dates and has repaid its last commercial papers on the due date in the current month. There are no commercial papers outstanding as on date payable by the company or any of its subsidiaries.

Overseas, stocks in Asia gained Friday despite fresh overnight uncertainties about US-China trade negotiations. In Japan, core consumer prices in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide price trends, rose 1.1% in January from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.

In US, stocks closed mostly higher Thursday as investors digested a tide of corporate earnings while monitoring US-China trade talks and a long-running US government shutdown -- all amid worries over the health of the global economy.

In Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to maintain interest rates at 0% as expected on Thursday, but President Mario Draghi warned that growth risks in the region had shifted to the downside due to a number of external factors.

On the US data front, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell below 200,000 for the first time in nearly 50 years, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Further, the Conference Board's leading economic index fell 0.1% in December.

Private-sector activity continued to expand in January but at a more moderate pace compared with the same time last year, according to flash purchasing managers index data compiled by Markit. The manufacturing index rose to 54.9 from 53.8 in December, while the services gauge slipped to 54.2 from 54.4. A figure above 50 signifies growth in activity.

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