A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices continue to hover in positive terrain in afternoon trade. At 13:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 188.43 points or 0.73% at 26,030.35. The Nifty 50 index was up 61.90 points or 0.79% at 7,904.65. The Sensex was currently trading above the psychological 26,000 mark.
In overseas stock markets, Asian markets were mostly trading higher. The main US stock indexes finished barely changed yesterday, 19 November 2015, after weakness in the health-care and energy sectors stunted gains.
Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,492 shares rose and 915 shares fell. A total of 214 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 1.05%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.92%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
Cement stocks gained. Ambuja Cements (up 2.02%), UltraTech Cement (up 0.97%) and ACC (up 0.69%) edged higher. Shree Cement (down 0.56%) edged lower.
Grasim Industries was up 0.43%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Telecom stocks edged higher. Reliance Communications (up 1.22%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 1.19%) and Idea Cellular (up 0.94%) gained. Bharti Airtel (down 0.15%) edged lower.
Shares of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam were unchanged at Rs 19.
MEP Infrastructure Developers rose 1.58% at Rs 51.35 after the company said it has won toll collection rights at Toll Plaza near Dastan village including construction of new six lane bridge on Panvel creek in Maharashtra. The period of the contract is one year. The contractual amount for the project is Rs 21.60 crore payable to Mumbai-JNPT Port Road Company on a weekly basis over a period of one year. The company made announcement during market hours today, 20 November 2015.
On the economic front, the Seventh Central Pay Commission has proposed a hefty 23.55% hike in salary, allowances and pension for 4.8 million government employees and 5.5 million pensioners. If accepted, the recommendations of the commission, headed by retired judge A K Mathur, would be effective from 1 January 2016, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday, 19 November 2015. The total financial impact would be Rs 1.02 lakh crore during FY 2016-17. Of the total financial impact of Rs 1.02 lakh crore, Rs 73650 crore will be borne by the General Budget and Rs 28450 crore by the Railway Budget, the statement said.
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