Key barometers traded in narrow band in early afternoon trade. At 12:20 the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 122.71 points or 0.35% at 35,038.09. The Nifty 50 index was up 50.70 points or 0.48% at 10,668.95. The Sensex was trading above the psychologically important 35,000 mark after opening above that level. Strength in ICICI Bank and Axis Bank boosted key indices higher while selling in HDFC Bank and TCS capped higher gains.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.28%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.49%, outperforming the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,298 shares rose and 1,132 shares fell. A total of 108 shares were unchanged.
ICICI Bank was up 1.41% at Rs 286.90. The bank will announce Q4 results today, 7 May 2018.
Axis Bank was up 2.16% at Rs 531.55. HDFC Bank was down 0.50% at Rs 1,978. IT major TCS was down 1.09% at Rs 3,443.
Cement shares were mixed. UltraTech Cement (up 0.76%) and ACC (up 0.10%), edged higher. Ambuja Cements was down 0.89%.
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Grasim Industries was down 0.58%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Telecom shares were mixed. Bharti Airtel (up 0.86%), Idea Cellular (up 0.32%) and MTNL (up 0.27%), edged higher. Reliance Communications (down 0.33%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 0.72%), edged lower.
Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was down 0.78%.
Overseas, Asian shares were mixed despite the strong closing on Wall Street as investors digested last week's trade talks and US jobs numbers. US stocks logged sharp gains on Friday, 4 May 2018, as technology stocks rallied, overshadowing uncertainty over tense trade talks between the US and China and a weaker-than-expected rise in April nonfarm payrolls.
The US created 164,000 new jobs in April. Separately, the unemployment rate fell to 3.9% from 4.1%, the first time the jobless rate has dropped below 4% since the end of 2000.
Meanwhile, China and the US ended the second day of trade talks on Friday. Both sides recognise there are still big differences on some issues and that they need to continue to step up their work to make progress. The two sides exchanged views on expanding US exports to China, trade in services, bilateral investment, protection of intellectual property rights, resolution of tariffs and non-tariff measures.
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