A bout of volatility was seen in early afternoon trade as the key benchmark indices trimmed gains after hitting fresh intraday high. At 12:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 52.67 points or 0.18% at 28,979.03. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 11.65 points or 0.13% at 8,929.60. The Sensex was currently trading below the psychologically important 29,000 level after hitting an intraday high above that level in early afternoon trade. Index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries (RIL) edged higher.
The Sensex rose 78.70 points or 0.27% at the day's high of 29,005.06 in early afternoon trade. The barometer index lost 71.80 points or 0.25% at the day's low of 28,854.56 at onset of the trading session, its lowest level since 6 September 2016. The Nifty rose 18.75 points or 0.21% at the day's high of 8,936.70 in early afternoon trade. The index lost 21.95 points or 0.25% at the day's low of 8,896 at onset of the trading session, its lowest level since 6 September 2016.
In overseas stock markets, most Asian stocks were trading lower following mixed lead overnight from Wall Street and as investors stayed cautious ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB)'s monetary policy decision later in the global day. The ECB is reportedly expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but may announce an extension of its quantitative easing program. US stocks ended on a mixed note yesterday, 7 September 2016, as investors digested the release of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, a key indicator of the US economic health, which said economic activity continued to expand at a modest pace from July through late August.
Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,536 shares rose and 865 shares declined. A total of 167 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently off 0.21%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.58%, outperforming the Sensex.
Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC gained 1.17% to Rs 264.75. The stock hit a high of Rs 265 and low of Rs 262.90 so far during the day.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 1.23% to Rs 1,030. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,034.45 and low of Rs 1,020 so far during the day.
Capital goods stocks saw mixed trend. ABB India (up 1.04%), BEML (up 0.62%), L&T (up 1.63%), Punj Lloyd (up 1.58%), Siemens (up 0.65%) and Thermax (up 1.32%) rose. Bharat Electronics (down 0.62%) and Crompton Greaves (down 0.42%) fell.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) lost 2.75% to Rs 155.40, with the stock sliding on profit booking after yesterday's sharp rally triggered by the company announcing strong Q1 earnings. The stock had risen 15.5% to settle at Rs 159.80 yesterday, 7 September 2016. The company's net profit jumped 54.2% to Rs 77.77 crore on 29% growth in net sales to Rs 5522.76 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.
In a post-result conference call held yesterday, 7 September 2016, Bhel said that the company's sales growth in Q1 June 2016 is largely due to focus on expeditious execution of the orders on hand rather than any one off item. Bhel's order inflow in Q1 June 2016 stood at Rs 3223 crore with about Rs 2307 crore accounted by power sector and balance by industry and international. The company's order backlog stood at Rs 1.08 lakh crore as on 30 June 2016.
Of the Rs 50000 crore of order book branded as slow moving orders, three projects worth Rs 30000 crore are awaiting clearance and expect to commence work in next 3-4 months, Bhel said. Bhel said that the financial closure for the Bangladesh Power project is expected to be achieved in October 2016 and post that the company will account the order of about Rs 10000 crore in its books of accounts.
GE T&D India (earlier known as Alstom T & D India) lost 3.94% after the company reported net loss of Rs 197.41 crore in Q1 June 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 10.15 crore in Q1 June 2015. The company's net sales rose 11.6% to Rs 854.56 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 7 September 2016.
Telecom stocks rose. Bharti Airtel (up 1.17%), Idea Cellular (up 1.19%), MTNL (up 4.82%) and Reliance Communications (up 1%) gained. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) slipped 0.84%.
Shares of Bharti Infratel advanced 1.93%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
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