Shares pare gains in late trade

The market settled with small gains as profit booking emerged in late trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 139.42 points or 0.42% to 33,136.18, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index rose 30.90 points or 0.31% to 10,155.25, as per the provisional closing data. The Sensex ended above the psychological 33,000 mark.

The market hit fresh intraday high in mid-morning trade after opening in positive terrain. Key indices trimmed gains in late trade as negative cues from European and Asian stocks triggered profit booking. The Sensex rose 358.17 points, or 1.09% at the day's high of 33,354.93 in mid-morning trade, its highest level since 16 March 2018. The index rose 73.77 points, or 0.22% at the day's low of 33,070.53 in late trade. The Nifty rose 102.95 points, or 1.02% at the day's high of 10,227.30 in mid-morning trade, its highest level since 16 March 2018. The index rose 8.60 points, or 0.08% at the day's low of 10,132.95 in mid-afternoon trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index provisionally rose 0.22%. The BSE Small-Cap index provisionally rose 0.31%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive in late trade. On BSE, 1,429 shares fell and 1,273 shares rose. A total of 158 shares were unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3267.89 crore, compared with the turnover of Rs 3551.92 crore registered during the previous trading session.

Telecom shares rose. Reliance Communications (up 7.99%), Bharti Airtel (up 4.67%), Idea Cellular (up 2.66%) and MTNL (up 2.33%), edged higher. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) fell 3.69%

Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel fell 1.42%.

Max Financial Services advanced 1.80% after the company's board of directors authorised the company to borrow an aggregate amount of upto Rs 5000 crore in one or more tranches. The announcement was made during market hours today, 21 March 2018.

TRF was locked in 5% upper circuit at Rs 208.75 after the company's board of directors approved the proposal of sale/divestment of the entire shareholding in step down subsidiary. The announcement was made during market hours today, 21 March 2018.

Overseas, European and Asian stocks edged lower as investors focused on the US Federal Reserve after it kicked off its March meeting in the previous session.

US stocks ended higher Tuesday, led by strong gains in the energy sector as the overall market reclaimed some lost ground from the previous day, when tech shares fell sharply.

The US Federal Reserve started a two-day monetary policy meeting yesterday, 20 March 2018. The outcome of the meeting will be announced later in the global day today, 21 March 2018, with new Chair Jerome Powell set to give his first news conference.

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