Strong market breadth

Key indices pared gains in morning trade after hitting fresh intraday high in early trade. At 10:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 53.06 points or 0.14% at 37,659.64. The Nifty 50 index was up 24.90 points or 0.22% at 11,381.40.

Trading was volatile. The Sensex rose 105.29 points, or 0.28% at the day's high of 37,711.87 in early trade. The index fell 9.34 points, or 0.02% at the day's low of 37,597.24 in early trade. The Nifty rose 34.05 points, or 0.30% at the day's high of 11,390.55 in early trade. The index fell 2.15 points, or 0.02% at the day's low of 11,358.65 in early trade.

Broader market was trading firm. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.52%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.51%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 1288 shares rose and 776 shares fell. A total of 104 shares were unchanged.

Metal shares rose. Hindustan Copper (up 4.66%), NMDC (up 1.99%), National Aluminium Company (up 1.55%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.95%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.77%), Vedanta (up 0.70%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.16%) and Tata Steel (up 0.05%), edged higher. JSW Steel (down 0.08%) and Hindalco Industries (down 0.59%), edged lower.

FMCG shares rose. Dabur India (up 2.44%), Tata Global Beverages (up 1.28%), Bajaj Corp (up 1.20%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (up 1.09%), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (up 0.85%), Marico (up 0.52%), Colgate Palmolive (India) (up 0.50%), Nestle India (up 0.50%), Britannia Industries (up 0.33%), Godrej Consumer Products (up 0.14%) and Hindustan Unilever (up 0.05%), edged higher. Jyothy Laboratories was down 0.45%.

On the macro front, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will conclude its two-day monetary policy meeting today, 1 August 2018. The resolution of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be unveiled at 14:30 IST today, 1 August 2018. RBI raised its benchmark policy repo rate by 0.25% to 6.25% in its second bi-monthly monetary policy for 2018-2019 on 6 June 2018.

Overseas, most Asian stocks edged higher, taking cues from the positive session seen in the US market following news that the US and China may restart official talks about their months-long trade dispute.

US stocks closed higher Tuesday, as investors continued to digest an onslaught of quarterly earnings reports, with the vast majority beating expectations. But headline news on trade continued to drive markets.

According to media reports, representatives of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He are in private talks to resume negotiations on trade matters in a bid to avoid a trade war.

Investors will be watching data from around the Asian region, including manufacturing activity numbers from China, for indications of the outlook for the global economy.

Policy meetings of the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, 1 August 2018, and the Bank of England on Thursday, 2 August 2018, will also keep some investors on the sidelines, although the US central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged.

On the US data front, consumer spending rose a solid 0.4% in June. Meanwhile, the employment cost index rose 0.6% in the second quarter. The S&P/Case-Shiller national index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% and was up 6.4% for the year in May. A measure of regional manufacturing activity in Chicago came in at the highest in six months. Chicago PMI rose 1.4 points to 65.5 in July, MNI Indicators said. Any reading above 50 indicates improving conditions. Separately, a reading of consumer confidence came in at 127.4 in July, compared with 126.5 in the previous month.

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