Key benchmark indices extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. At 10:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 470.44 points or 1.42% at 33,489.51. The Nifty 50 index was up 155.45 points or 1.53% at 10,283.85. Cement stocks edged higher. Telecom stocks rose. Strong global cues underpinned the sentiment on the domestic bourses.
Domestic stocks saw a gap-up opening tracking firm Asian stocks.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.72%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.79%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The broad market depicted strength. There were almost six gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,808 shares rose and 306 shares fell. A total of 78 shares were unchanged.
Overseas, Asian shares were trading higher as optimism grew that the US and China will step back from the brink of a trade war. Representatives from China and the US left the door open for a negotiated solution to avoid tariff proposals that wouldn't take effect for months. Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed for holidays.
China's tariffs would place 25% duties on major US exports to China including airplanes, autos and soybeans, covering 106 categories of products and affecting $50 billion of goods. The announcement followed plans by the Trump administration to impose tariffs of 25% on Chinese products worth $50 billion, on top of levies introduced on steel and aluminum last month. Retaliatory Chinese levies on US pork and fruit came into effect early this week.
US stocks closed sharply higher yesterday, 4 April 2018 amid heavy intraday volatility as investors speculated the likelihood of, or the potential impact from, a trade war between the United States and China.
Back home, cement stocks edged higher. ACC (up 1.16%), UltraTech Cement (up 1.79%), Ambuja Cements (up 0.32%) and Shree Cement (up 0.81%) gained.
Grasim Industries was up 2.16%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Telecom stocks rose. Reliance Communications (up 1.34%), Bharti Airtel (up 0.05%), Idea Cellular (up 0.46%), MTNL (up 2.81%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.17%) rose.
Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 0.67%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
Smartlink Network Systems was locked at 20% upper circuit at Rs 107.50 after the company said its board will meet on 7 April 2018 to consider buyback of equity shares. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 4 April 2018.
Indoco Remedies rose 3.43% after the company announced that its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) plant at Patalganga has received accreditation renewal from the Japanese Regulatory Authorities. The accreditation is valid until 21 May 2023. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 4 April 2018.
Traders and investors are awaiting the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meeting. The RBI's two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting began yesterday, 4 April 2018 for the first bi-monthly monetary policy for 2018-2019. The resolution of the MPC will be announced at 14:30 IST today, 5 April 2018. As per reports, the central bank is likely to keep interest rates unchanged in the first monetary policy review of the current fiscal year, amid a gradual recovery in growth and easing inflation.
In its last meeting on 7 February 2018, RBI decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF was at 5.75%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate at 6.25%.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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