Metal and mining stocks gain

Local stocks pared some intraday gains in early afternoon trade. At 12:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 149.17 points or 0.42% at 36,016.61. The Nifty 50 index was up 45.15 points or 0.42% at 10,837.65. Metal and mining stocks gained.

The Sensex was currently trading a tad above the psychological 36,000 level after regaining that level in opening trade. Key benchmark indices drifted higher in early trade on buying demand in index pivotals. Stocks held onto gains in morning trade. Key indices hovered in small range with modest gains in mid-morning trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.05%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.62%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

 

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1688 shares rose and 573 shares fell. A total of 124 shares were unchanged.

Maruti Suzuki India rose 0.7%. The company during market hours today said that its total sales fell 0.8% to 148,682 units in February 2019 over February 2018. Maruti Suzuki India said total domestic sales rose 0.9% to 139,100 units, while total exports fell 19.6% to 9,582 units.

Metal and mining stocks gained. Vedanta (up 2.48%), JSW Steel (up 0.85%), Tata Steel (up 1.11%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (up 8.28%), National Aluminium Company (up 5.14%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.33%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 3.23%), Hindalco Industries (up 0.36%), NMDC (up 1.34%), Hindustan Copper (up 3.17%) edged higher.

On the macro front, the health of the Indian manufacturing sector strengthened further in February, data released today showed. At 54.3 in February, up from 53.9 in January, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) reached a 14-month high. The latest figure was consistent with a robust improvement in business conditions that was stronger than seen on average over the 14-year survey history.

India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth moderated to six-quarters low of 6.6% in Q3 of 2018-19 from 7% growth recorded in the previous quarter and 7.7% improvement in the corresponding quarter last year. Quarterly Gross Value Added (GVA) growth also eased to 6.3% in Q3 of 2018-19 from 6.8% in Q2 of 2018-19 and 7.3% in Q3FY of 2017-18. The data was released after market hours yesterday, 28 February 2019.

The GDP growth estimate for 2018-19 is revised downward to 7% from 7.2% growth estimated at first advances estimate level released in January 2019. The GDP growth for agriculture sector is expected to ease to 2.7% and services sector to 7.4% in 2018-19, while industrial sector growth estimate to accelerate to 7.7% in 2018-19.

The output of eight core industries comprising 40.27%of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose 1.8% in January 2019 over January 2018. Its cumulative output increased 4.5% in April to January 2018-19. The data was released after market hours yesterday, 28 February 2019.

Overseas, Asian shares rose on Friday, driven by a rally in Chinese markets after index publisher MSCI announced it would boost the proportion of mainland shares in its global benchmarks. Global index provider MSCI said it would quadruple the weighting of mainland shares in its global benchmarks later this year, potentially drawing more than $80 billion of fresh foreign inflows to the world's second-biggest economy.

A private gauge of China's factory activity rebounded to its three-month high in February. The Caixin China manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 49.9 in February from 48.3 in January, Caixin Media Co. and research firm Markit said on Friday.

U.S. stocks finished lower Thursday after a sudden breakdown in denuclearization talks with North Korea weighed on sentiment. Better-than-expected fourth-quarter gross domestic product data helped to offset some of the selling pressure during the session.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders reportedly said that a U.S.-North Korean nuclear agreement couldn't be reached at the summit in Hanoi because the isolated nation wanted more sanctions lifted than Trump would allow. On Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the U.S. would abandon for now its threat to raise tariffs to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods on March 2.

The Commerce Department's estimate of fourth-quarter GDP growth showed the U.S. economy growing at a rate of 2.6%. GDP grew at 2.9% during 2018, according to the preliminary estimates by the Commerce Department, representing the best growth in three years. However, expansion tapered from heady levels of a 4.2% growth rate in the second quarter of 2018.

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