Market opens on a firm note on upbeat Asian stocks

Trading for the week began on a firm note following upbeat Asian stocks. At 9:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 268.47 points or 0.81% at 33,575.61. The Nifty 50 index was up 80 points or 0.78% at 10,306.85. Gains were led by index heavyweights ITC, Infosys and HDFC.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.56%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.64%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 951 shares rose and 253 shares fell. A total of 55 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks edged higher as trade-war concerns took a backseat to economic optimism following a US jobs report Friday, 9 March 2018 that showed the American economy continued to strengthen without the prior month's rapid wage gains that stoked inflation fears.

In US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed back above 25,000 and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended at a record on Friday, 9 March 2018 as Wall Street appeared to shake off worries about tariffs on steel and aluminum to focus on an unexpectedly strong jobs report. Shares also got a boost from news that US President Donald Trump accepted an invitation to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which followed a narrower-than-expected tariff plan from the White House Thursday, 8 March 2018 that eased speculation of a trade war.

In economic data, the US created 313,000 new jobs in February, the biggest gain since mid-2016 and a reflection of the strongest labor market in two decades.

The unemployment rate held at 4.1%, the fifth straight month at that level. The subdued rise in wage growth for the month helped to ease worries about runaway inflation.

Back home, index heavyweights ITC (up 1.77%), Infosys (up 1.49%) and HDFC (up 1.39%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Reliance Industries' (RIL) rose 0.98% to Rs 921. RIL's step-down subsidiary, Reliance Retail (RRL), has subscribed to 19.04 lakh common shares of KaiOS Technologies Inc (KTI) at $3.675 per share, for cash aggregating to $7 million, translating to 16% of equity stake of KTI on a fully diluted basis. KTI is an emerging mobile operating system technology provider incorporated in the State of Delaware, USA in 2014. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 9 March 2018.

Separately, RIL said that its telecom arm Reliance Jio Infomm's (RJio) Live TV app JioTV has introduced India's first interactive sports experience for consumers watching the ongoing tri-nation Nidahas trophy which is being shown exclusively on JioTV in India. With this, JioTV consumers can interact with the game while watching it - a revolution in the Live TV space, RIL said. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 9 March 2018.

Power Grid Corporation of India shed 0.74%. The company announced that it was declared as the successful bidder under tariff-based competitive bidding to establish transmission system for 'New WR-NR 765 kV Inter-Regional Corridor' on build, own operate and maintain (BOOM) basis. The Letter of Intent (1-01) was received on 1 March 2018. The transmission system traverses in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and includes 765kV transmission line. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 9 March 2018.

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