Market closes with small gains

The stock market closed the mostly range-bound session of trade with small gains. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 70.42 points or 0.2% at 34,503.49, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index rose 23.15 points or 0.22% at 10,655.35, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty had hit a record high in intraday trade.

The trading was lackluster till early afternoon trade with the movement for key indices confined to a narrow range around the flat line. Indices extended gains with the Nifty hitting a record high in afternoon trade. Key indices witnessed a bit of volatility post mid-afternoon trade with the indices trimming gains followed by recovery of some intraday gains to close the session with small gains.

The Sensex advanced 125.81 points, or 0.36%, at the day's high of 34,558.88 in afternoon trade. The index lost 32.46 points, or 0.09%, at the day's low of 34,400.61 in morning trade. The Nifty advanced 32.40 points, or 0.3%, at the day's high of 10,664.60 in afternoon trade, a record high. The index lost 19.85 points, or 0.18%, at the day's low of 10,612.35 in morning trade.

Among secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index provisionally rose 0.27%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index provisionally advanced 0.41%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,604 shares rose and 1,327 shares declined. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 5237.23 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 5026.37 crore registered during the previous trading session.

IT stocks advanced. Oracle Financial Services Software (up 1.62%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.39%), HCL Technologies (up 0.26%) and Persistent Systems (up 0.09%) edged higher.

Software major TCS dropped 0.81% at Rs 2,784.25 ahead of the company's Q3 December 2017 results today, 11 January 2018.

Another IT behemoth Infosys was up 2.4% at Rs 1,076.80. The company is scheduled to announce Q3 December 2017 results tomorrow, 12 January 2018.

IndusInd Bank dropped 2.12% at Rs 1,698 after the bank reported a rise in its gross and net non-performing assets (NPAs) in Q3 December 2017 over a year ago and sequential quarters. The bank's net profit rose 24.72% to Rs 936.25 crore on 16.05% increase in total income to Rs 5473.54 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016. The result was announced during market hours today, 11 January 2018.

On the macro front, according to the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects report released yesterday, 10 January 2018, India is likely to reclaim its position from China as the fastest growing major economy in 2018, with growth expected to accelerate to 7.3% in the year. The World Bank also revised India's growth estimate for 2017 to 6.7% from 7% projected in October, blaming short-term disruptions caused by the newly introduced goods and services tax (GST) and a softer-than-envisioned recovery in private investment. The report projected China's economic growth to slow to 6.4% in 2018 from 6.8% in 2017.

Meanwhile, the government is scheduled to announce industrial production data for November 2017 tomorrow, 12 January 2018. India's industrial production increased by 2.2% year-on-year in October, easing from an upwardly revised 4.1% gain in September.

The government will also announce tomorrow, 12 January 2018, inflation data based on consumer price index (CPI) for December 2017. Consumer prices increased 4.88% year-on-year in November, higher than 3.58% in October.

Overseas, European stocks edged slightly higher as investors awaited the release of corporate earnings and economic data. Asian stocks edged lower after Wall Street slipped overnight on China bond report.

A report that officials in charge of reviewing China's foreign exchange holdings have recommended either slowing or stop adding to the country's vast US government bond holdings hit the trading sentiment in the Asian region. The move, if true, could have potentially wide ranging implications for dollar denominated assets given that Beijing, along with Japan, are the world's top two foreign holders of US debt, the report suggested. However, some media reports also played down the significance of the aforesaid news, dismissing the timing of the report amidst speculation that the US is considering trade sanctions against China.

US stocks fell yesterday, 10 January 2018 as investors fretted over the possibility of China halting its Treasury bond purchases and the US pulling out of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

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