A bout of volatility was witnessed in early afternoon trade as key benchmark indices swayed between positive and negative terrain. At 12:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 17.72 points or 0.05% at 33,153.90. The Nifty 50 index was up 1.60 points or 0.02% at 10,156.85.
After a dull opening, key indices firmed up and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Indices pared gains in mid-morning trade and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. The Sensex rose 145.59 points, or 0.44% at the day's high of 33,281.77 in morning trade. The index fell 37.06 points, or 0.11% at the day's low of 33,099.12 in early afternoon trade. The Nifty rose 52.60 points, or 0.52% at the day's high of 10,207.85 in morning trade. The index fell 12.45 points, or 0.12% at the day's low of 10,142.80 in early afternoon trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.40%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.60%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 1,699 shares fell and 766 shares rose. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.
Overseas, Asian shares were mixed after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time this year. US stocks ended a volatile session slightly lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve delivered its sixth interest-rate increase since the end of 2015 and signaled it still expects to deliver two more before the end of the year.
The Fed raised overnight rates by 25 basis points, in line with market expectations. Central bank officials also raised their GDP forecast. Fed officials also released their projections for the federal funds rate, which remained unchanged for 2018. The central bank, however, raised its 2019 forecast, saying it sees the benchmark rate at 2.9%, up from a 2.7% projection released in December.
In US, the current-account deficit rose by 26% in the fourth quarter, widening to $128.20 billion from a revised $101.5 billion in the third quarter. Existing-home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.54 million in February.
Back home, telecom shares witnessed selling. Reliance Communications (down 4.17%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1%), Bharti Airtel (down 0.62%) and Idea Cellular (down 0.51%), edged lower. MTNL was up 2.53%.
Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was down 0.13%.
Cement shares declined. UltraTech Cement (down 0.71%), Ambuja Cements (down 0.17%) and ACC (down 0.09%), edged lower.
Grasim Industries was down 0.42%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Dilip Buildcon rose 0.82% after the company was declared as lowest (L-1) bidder by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for a new EPC project valued at Rs 677.07 crore in Uttar Pradesh. The length of the project is 43.40 kilometers and the completion period is 30 months. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 March 2018.
Oil India rose 2.03% after the company entered into an agreement with Government of Assam and Assam Petro-Chemicals for methanol and formaldehyde project. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 21 March 2018.
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