Key benchmarks continued range bound trading in early afternoon trade. At 12:17 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 151.95 points or 0.39% at 38,846.06. The Nifty 50 index was up 40.60 points or 0.35% at 0.35. Both Sensex and Nifty pared gains after hitting fresh all-time highs in early trade.
On Monday, the United States and Mexico announced that a deal had been agreed upon after months of negotiations between the two countries over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The new deal, which President Donald Trump has said would be called The United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, is expected to last 16 years and will be reviewed every six years pending its approval by Congress, according to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
On the US data front, a measure of the US economy from the Chicago Federal Reserve slowed in July from June's robust performance, owed in large part to lighter output at the nation's factories. The Chicago Fed's index of national economic activity registered at a positive 0.13 last month, down from an upwardly revised positive 0.48 in June.
Among secondary barometers back home, the BSE Mid-Cap index was flat, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.62%, outperforming the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On BSE, 1183 shares rose and 1278 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.
Most cement shares declined. ACC (down 1.14%) and Ambuja Cements (down 1.06%), edged lower. UltraTech Cement was up 1%.
Grasim Industries was down 0.86%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Most telecom shares declined. Idea Cellular (down 0.68%) and MTNL (down 0.67%), edged lower. Bharti Airtel (up 0.01%) and Reliance Communications (up 0.27%), edged higher.
Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was down 0.75%.
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