Broad market depicts strength

Firmness prevailed on the bourses in mid-afternoon trade after hitting fresh intraday high in afternoon trade. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 299.53 points or 0.89% at 34,119.03. The Nifty 50 index was up 102.25 points or 0.98% at 10,484.95. The Sensex was trading well above the psychological 34,000-mark. Domestic stocks were boosted by positive Asian stocks. Auto stocks rose. FMCG stocks saw mixed trend.

The market edged higher in early trade tracking positive Asian stocks. Key indices hovered in positive zone in morning trade. Indices extended gains later during the session uptill afternoon trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.25%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.31%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The broad market depicted strength. There were more than two gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,838 shares rose and 808 shares fell. A total of 153 shares were unchanged.

Auto stocks rose. TVS Motor Company (up 5.78%), Tata Motors (up 1.16%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.71%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.06%), Escorts (up 1.05%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.64%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 0.57%) gained. Eicher Motors (down 0.32%) fell.

M&M shed 0.28%. SmartShift today announced an intent to merge with Porter by Resfeber Labs, India's leading tech-enabled logistic solutions provider in the goods transportation space. Under the aegis of the merged identity, which would be called Mahindra SmartShift, both go-to market brands Porter and SmartShift will continue to service their respective customers and partner-drivers in order to optimise greater operational efficiency. The announcement was made during market hours today, 23 February 2018.

Mahindra would invest a sum of Rs 65 crore in the two entities which reinforces the group's commitment in this space. This merger will help both SmartShift and Porter to spread out to a pan India presence in the shared mobility space. Mahindra has been keen to invest in the shared mobility space as a part of its strategy to promote and participate in sustainable mobility solutions, including promoting load aggregation digital platforms.

SmartShift is an on-demand logistics provider. Porter aims to provide economical, efficient and reliable logistics solutions to its customers, while empowering partnered drivers, by utilising technology.

FMCG stocks saw mixed trend. Tata Global Beverages (up 2.59%), Britannia Industries (up 1.63%), Colgate-Palmolive (India) (up 0.85%), Hindustan Unilever (up 0.05%), Marico (up 0.64%), Nestle India (up 0.78%) and Bajaj Corp (up 0.31%) rose.

Jyothy Laboratories (down 1.04%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (down 0.48%), GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (down 0.37%), Dabur India (down 0.66%) and Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.01%) fell.

Info Edge (India) rose 4.01% to Rs 1,191 on bargain hunting after a recent slide. Shares of Info Edge (India) fell 11.46% in eight trading sessions to settle at Rs 1,145.10 yesterday, 22 February 2018, from its close of Rs 1,293.30 on 9 February 2018.

Sadbhav Engineering rose 1.29% after the company said it was declared successful bidder by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for construction of NH24 extension 4-lane bypass in Uttar Pradesh on engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) mode. Length of the project is 31.89 kilometres. The company quoted price of Rs 981 crore. NHAI estimated price is Rs 896.22 crore. Construction period is 3 years. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 23 February 2018.

Overseas, European stocks were trading lower in early trade even as US index futures held on to firm gains, as investors continue to track developments in government bond markets amid one of the most sustained rises in borrowing costs for three decades.

Asian stocks rose as investors continue to debate the outlook for central bank policy normalization and the impact of higher bond yields. Meanwhile, Japan's core consumer price index rose for a 13th straight month in January, increasing by 0.9% from a year earlier, matching December's rate of growth, data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed today, 23 February 2018.

In US, the Dow and the S&P 500 closed higher while the Nasdaq slipped yesterday, 22 February 2018 as investors grappled with the threat from higher interest rates. On the data front, initial US jobless claims fell by 7,000 to 222,000 in the seven days ended 17 February 2018, marking the second lowest level since the end of the 2007-2009 recession.

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