Strong market breadth

The Sensex held firm in morning trade after a gap-up opening. At 10:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 282.91 points or 0.77% at 36,954.34.

Trading for the week began on upbeat note on buying demand in index pivotals.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.21%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.99%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1431 shares rose and 508 shares fell. A total of 124 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading lower. US stocks finished lower Friday for a fifth session in a row, after a disappointing jobs report added to concerns about slowing global growth.

Labor Department announced the U.S. economy added just 20,000 new jobs in February. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8% from 4%, while workers saw an 11 cent-an-hour increase in average hourly earnings, the largest gain since the end of the 2009 recession.

Back home, Coal India (up 3.3%), Vedanta (up 2.76%), Bharti Airtel (up 2.48%), State Bank of India (up 2.24%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 1.84%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Dilip Buildcon gained 6.91% after the company said it has been declared L-1 bidder for EPC project in Maharashtra, NH-547E, valued at Rs 480.06 crore by the National Highways Authority of India. The project is to be completed in 24 months. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 8 March 2019.

Goa Carbon rose 1.84%. Goa Carbon said it produced 18,026.80 MT of calcined petroleum coke in February 2019, 53.78% higher compared to same period last year. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 8 March 2019.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 and counting will take place on May 23. However, elections for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, will not be held along with the Lok Sabha polls due to security reasons, the Election Commission said on Sunday.

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