Key benchmark indices nudged higher in early trade following good GDP data announced by the government after market hours yesterday, 31 May 2018. At 9:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 88.97 points or 0.25% at 35,411.35. The Nifty 50 index was up 20.50 points or 0.19% at 10,756.65.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.09%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.05%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 698 shares rose and 595 shares fell. A total of 47 shares were unchanged.
On the macro front, Markit Economics will unveil the result of a monthly survey on the performance of India's manufacturing sector in May 2018 today, 1 June 2018. The Nikkei Manufacturing PMI in India increased to 51.6 in April 2018 from 51 in the preceding month.
India's GDP rose at 7.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017-18 compared with 6.1% in the same period last year, and a revised 7% in the quarter ended December, government data released after market hours yesterday, 31 May 2018 showed. For the full financial year, GDP grew at 6.7% compared with 7.1% in the previous year.
Overseas, most Asian stocks slipped after the Trump administration's tariffs on imports from key allies sent US and European stocks into a tailspin. US stocks fell yesterday, 31 May 2018 as the president's escalation of trade tensions with Canada, Mexico and the European Union hammered American industrial and financial shares.
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Back home, IT major Infosys rose 0.58% after the company announced an expansion of its relationship with Microsoft to accelerate the digital transformation of enterprise clients. Infosys has launched a new Microsoft Cloud Business Unit that will focus on the comprehensive cloud needs of enterprises - from infrastructure to business applications. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 May 2018.
The unit at Infosys will consist of a central pool of trained consultants, architects and specialist sales team that will be aligned to four core solution areas - modern workplace, business applications, application development & infrastructure and data & analytics. The new unit is chartered to develop and deliver integrated experiences, solutions and services spanning Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Office 365, Windows 10 and Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Maruti Suzuki India gained 1.54% after the company said it crossed the mark of 3-lakh cumulative sale of cars with the acclaimed Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology. With the AGS becoming popular among the customers, Maruti Suzuki aims to achieve the feat of over 2-lakh sales in the current fiscal year. The contribution of cars with AGS variant to the company's total sales has tripled since its introduction in 2014.
At present, Maruti Suzuki offers AGS in seven models in its range, including bestsellers like Alto K10, WagonR, Celerio, Swift, IGNIS and Dzire. In May 2018, Vitara Brezza became the latest offering with AGS technology from Maruti Suzuki. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 May 2018.
Idea Cellular rose 1.14% after the company announced completion of sale of its pan-India standalone tower business, by way of divesting its entire stake in ICISL (100% subsidiary of Idea), to ATC Telecom Infrastructure (ATC). The transaction has been closed with an enterprise value of Rs 4000 crore for approximately 9,900 standalone towers.
Vodafone's sale of its standalone tower business to ATC has already been completed earlier for an enterprise value of Rs 3850 crore. With this, both Idea and Vodafone India have now monetised the standalone tower assets for a total enterprise value of Rs 7850 crore, as per the timelines provided at the time of the announcement in November 2017, strengthening the financial position of the merged entity. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 May 2018.
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