Telecom stocks gain, cement stocks fall

A bout of volatility was seen in morning trade as the key benchmark indices gyrated in positive and negative zone. At 10:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 12.47 points or 0.04% at 35,153.01. The Nifty 50 index was down 0.50 points at 10,688.15. Telecom stocks gained. Cement stocks fell.

Domestic stocks nudged lower in early trade on negative Asian stocks.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.19%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.39%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1179 shares rose and 860 shares fell. A total of 90 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading lower as the political crisis in Italy worsened as a fresh election appeared likely in the eurozone's third-largest economy. US markets remained closed yesterday, 28 May 2018 for Memorial Day. UK markets were also closed yesterday, 28 May 2018 for the spring bank holiday.

The leader of Italy's Five Star Movement party reportedly called for the country's president, Sergio Mattarella, to be impeached after the latter chose to veto a pick for economy minister. Mattarella on Monday appointed a former International Monetary Fund economist to the role of interim prime minister, with snap elections expected.

Back home, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.66%), Tata Steel (up 1.36%) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.97%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Telecom stocks gained. Bharti Airtel (up 1.02%), Idea Cellular (up 2.86%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.37%) and Reliance Communications (up 4.58%) rose. MTNL (down 0.3%) fell.

Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 1.05%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Cement stocks fell. Ambuja Cements (down 0.12%), ACC (down 0.39%) and UltraTech Cement (down 0.14%) declined. Shree Cement (up 3.67%) gained.

Grasim Industries was up 0.59%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

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