Key benchmark indices extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in afternoon trade. At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 328.05 points or 0.88% at 37,493.21. The Nifty 50 index was up 91.50 points or 0.81% at 11,336.20.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.96%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.12%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was tilted in favour of buyers. On BSE, 1764 shares rose and 785 shares fell. A total of 128 shares were unchanged.
Vedanta (up 3.25%), Yes Bank (up 2.76%), ICICI Bank (up 2.52%), Axis Bank (up 2.48%) and HDFC (up 1.93%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Hero MotoCorp (down 0.51%), Asian Paints (down 0.48%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.33%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
Indiabulls Housing Finance advanced 5.76% after consolidated net profit rose 30.29% to Rs 1054.72 crore on 23.81% rise in total income to Rs 4071.32 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q1 June 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 2 August 2018.
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Indiabulls Housing Finance said that the board of directors of the company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 10 per share for the financial year ending 31 March 2019 (FY 2019). The company has fixed 14 August 2018 as the record date for the purpose of payment of interim dividend.
On the macro front, the Indian service sector remained in expansion territory for the second consecutive month in July. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services Business Activity Index posted above the neutral 50.0 threshold for the second consecutive month in July. Moreover, rising from 52.6 in June to 54.2 in July, the latest reading signalled the strongest rate of output growth since October 2016. Favourable demand conditions were cited by panellists as the key factor behind the latest upturn. The data was unveiled during trading hours today, 3 August 2018.
Overseas, European equities were trading higher helped by a rally in banking shares after Royal Bank of Scotland Group announced plans to resume payouts. Asian stocks were mixed. The mood was cautious amid an elevation in trade tensions between the US and China. The trade war between the world's top two economies intensified midweek after US President Donald Trump raised pressure on China by proposing a higher 25% tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. China reportedly responded on Thursday, saying that it was fully prepared to defend the interests of the people and free trade.
Investors were also cautious ahead of the July US jobs report due later on Friday, which will give a reading on the health of the world's largest economy and possible clues about the pace of Federal Reserve interest rate rises.
US stocks ended a rocky session decidedly higher on the back of a record rally by Apple that took the iPhone maker to a market cap above $1 trillion, a runup that helped Wall Street set aside bothering trade issues between the US and China.
On the US data front, initial jobless claims rose by 1,000 in the latest week, however they were near their lowest levels since the 1970s. The report comes a day ahead of the highly anticipated July jobs report. Separately, factory orders rose 0.7% in June.
Investors also digested the latest moves from the Bank of England (BoE), which pushed interest rates above their financial crisis lows on Thursday but signalled it was in no hurry to raise them further with an uncertain Brexit on the horizon. BoE raised its main interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%, as had been expected.
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