After hitting a fresh intraday high in afternoon trade, key benchmark indices hovered near day's high in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:19 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 233.07 points or 0.74% at 31,682.10. The Nifty 50 index was up 68.30 points or 0.70% at 9,862.45. Gains in ITC boosted the key indices higher, while losses in Reliance Industries (RIL) and ITC capped gains.
The Sensex rose 269.56 points, or 0.86% at the day's high of 31,718.59 in afternoon trade, its highest level since 10 August 2017. The index fell 49.68 points, or 0.16% at the day's low of 31,399.35 in early trade. The Nifty rose 83.80 points, or 0.86% at the day's high of 9,877.95 in afternoon trade, its highest level since 10 August 2017. The index fell 20.30 points, or 0.21% at the day's low of 9,773.85 in early trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.98%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.10%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. 1,551 shares rose and 935 shares fell. A total of 117 shares were unchanged.
Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC gained 3.19% to Rs 279.80. The stock hit a high of Rs 281.70 and a low of Rs 271.65 so far during the day.
IT major Infosys fell 0.84% to Rs 971.25. The stock hit a high of Rs 986.10 and a low of Rs 970 so far during the day.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 0.56% to Rs 1,564.30 after reports suggested that the government has disallowed the company and partners to recover $264 million of cost of developing KG-D6 fields for 2015-16 as the output from the field fell short of the target.
Reliance and partners BP Plc and Niko Resources are engaged in an arbitration with the government over dispute related to the amount that can be recovered as cost before the profit could be shared from KG-D6 fields between the companies and the state. Companies contend that the contract doesn't provide for government disallowing cost for shortfall in targets.
The output from KG-D6 fields has remained far short of the targeted 80 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) for years, and has now fallen to under 4 mmscmd. This has prompted the government to direct companies to not account for certain costs each year beginning April 2010.
Adding the $264 million disallowed as cost in 2015-16 to similar restrictions imposed in previous five years, the total cost recovery disallowed by the government comes to $3.02 billion. The government had disallowed $457 million of cost for 2010-11, $548 million for 2011-12, $792 million for 2012-13, $579 million for 2013-14 and $380 million for 2014-15. The amount for 2016-17 has not yet been calculated.
Cement shares were mixed. ACC (up 1.09%) and Ambuja Cements (up 0.79%), edged higher. UltraTech Cement was down 0.62%.
Grasim Industries was down 0.44%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Auto shares were in demand. TVS Motor Company (up 5.72%), Escorts (up 4.54%), Tata Motors (up 2.45%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.84%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.98%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.94%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.63%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.57%), edged higher. Ashok Leyland was down 1.05%.
On the macro front, the all-India general Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation rebounded 2.36% in July 2017, compared with 1.46% in June 2017. The data was released after market hours on Monday, 14 August 2017.
Data released after market hours on Monday, 14 August 2017, by the commerce ministry showed that goods exports rose for the twelfth consecutive month with shipments in July registering a 3.94% year-on-year growth to $22.54 billion. Goods imports in July recorded 15.42% to $33.99 billion the slowest pace since 1.13% growth in January 2017. This led to trade deficit (goods) narrowing on a month-on-month basis to $11.45 billion, the lowest since $10.5 billion recorded in March 2017.
Overseas, European stocks were trading higher with investors awaiting euro zone GDP figures which are expected to confirm the bloc's economic growth was on track. Asian shares were mixed as investors digested earnings releases from regional corporates.
In US, the main benchmarks ended little changed overnight amid better-than-expected retail sales data and an abatement of tensions between the US and North Korea. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 5.28 points, or less than 0.1%, at 21,998.99. The S&P 500 index declined 1.23 points to finish at 2,464.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 7.22 points, or 0.1%, to close at 6,333.01.
US retail sales recorded their biggest increase in seven months in July as consumers boosted purchases of motor vehicles as well as discretionary spending, suggesting the economy continued to gain momentum early in the third quarter. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday, 15 August 2017, that retail sales jumped 0.6% last month. That was the largest gain since December 2016 and followed June's upwardly revised 0.3% rise.
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