The market witnessed some volatility as the Sensex and the Nifty trimmed losses in early afternoon trade after hitting fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 41.26 points or 0.12% at 34,142.78. The Nifty 50 index was down 6 points or 0.06% at 10,486.85. Negative cues from other Asian stocks weakened investors sentiment. Losses were, however, limited following better-than-expected domestic economic growth.
Main barometers opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in early trade. Selling at higher levels dragged the key indices to the day's low in mid-morning trade. Key indices pared losses in early afternoon trade. The Sensex rose 94.59 points, or 0.28% at the day's high of 34,278.63 in early trade. The index fell 103.43 points, or 0.30% at the day's low of 34,080.61 in mid-morning trade. The Nifty rose 32.65 points, or 0.31% at the day's high of 10,525.50 in early trade. The index fell 23 points, or 0.22% at the day's low of 10,469.85 in mid-morning trade.
Among secondary barometers back home, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.06%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.23%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,290 shares rose and 1,170 shares fell. A total of 125 shares were unchanged.
IT shares were mixed. HCL Technologies (up 0.32%), MindTree (up 0.22%), MphasiS (up 0.08%), Persistent Systems (up 0.26%) and TCS (up 0.05%), edged higher. Infosys (down 1.28%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.3%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.48%) and Wipro (down 0.44%), edged lower.
Power generation stocks were mixed. NTPC (down 0.46%), Adani Power (down 1.10%), Reliance Power (down 2.01%) and Reliance Infrastructure (down 2.04%), edged lower. Tata Power (up 0.06%) and Torrent Power (up 0.97%), edged higher.
State-run Coal India was up 0.55. State-run Power Grid Corporation of India was down 0.96%.
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On the macro front, India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth further accelerated to 7.2% in Q3 December 2017, showing improvement from 6.5% growth in the preceding last quarter and 6.8% in the corresponding quarter last year. The GDP growth stood at 6.4% in April-December 2017, compared with 7.5% recorded in the corresponding period last year. The GDP growth estimate for 2017-18 has been revised upwards to 6.6% at second advances estimates level from 6.5% at first advance estimate level released in early January 2018.
Meanwhile, the output of eight core infrastructure sector comprising 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), improved to 6.7% in January 2018 over January 2017.
Overseas, most Asian stocks declined, tracking overnight slide in US equities. Growth in China's manufacturing sector unexpectedly picked up to a six-month high in February. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) edged up to 51.6 last month, from 51.5 in January. The 50-mark divides expansion from contraction on a monthly basis.
US stocks ended lower on Wednesday, as Wall Street digested data that were seen as underlining the economy's robust health. Strong economy could warrant the Federal Reserve to turn more hawkish.
In the latest economic data, the pace of growth in the US economy was trimmed to 2.5% from 2.6% in the fourth quarter, largely because of a slower buildup in inventories of unsold goods.
Separately, the Chicago PMI came in at 61.9 in February. Pending-home sales fell 4.7% in January, the lowest reading since October 2014, and the biggest monthly decline since 2010.
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