Positive start to trade was witnessed on the bourses as key indices edged higher in early trade, snapping previous three sessions of losses. At 9:17 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 25.02 points or 0.08% at 29,610.87. The Nifty 50 index was up 3.40 points or 0.04% at 9,184.85. Domestic bourses bucked weak trend in most of Asian markets. Realty and IT stocks led gains.
Buying continued in small cap and mid cap counters. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.41%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.47%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,161 shares rose and 422 shares fell. A total of 85 shares were unchanged.
Infosys, State Bank of India and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose by 0.34% to 1.1%.
Realty stocks rose. D B Realty (up 1.54%), Sobha (up 1.08%), Unitech (up 6.39%), NBCC (up 0.08%), Godrej Properties (up 0.17%), Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 0.18%), and Oberoi Realty (up 0.05%) edged higher. DLF (down 0.06%) and Indiabulls Real Estate (down 0.5%) declined.
Overseas, Asian stocks declined as rising tensions in the Middle East and political uncertainty in Europe kept investors on edge, underpinning safe assets such as the yen, gold and treasuries.
The upcoming French presidential election and the heightened tensions in the Middle East following the US strikes on Syria have left investors nervous even as a raft of global data over recent months have pointed to a steadily improving global economy. In France, polls for many weeks have been showing centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen on track to top the first round of voting on 23 April and go through to a 7 May runoff.
US stocks closed fractionally higher yesterday, 10 April 2017, amid geopolitical tensions while investors looked ahead to the start of earnings season.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen indicated yesterday that the era of extremely stimulative monetary policy was coming to an end. In a public discussion at the University of Michigan, Yellen said the Fed was moving away from its efforts to revive a recession-scarred economy and focusing instead on maintaining the gains of the past few years.
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