The domestic equity benchmarks traded with moderate gains in the mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty scaled above the 22,100 level after hitting the day’s low of 21,916.55 in mid-morning trade. Auto shares advanced after declining in the past trading session.
At 14:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 305.55 points or 0.42% to 72,943.36. The Nifty 50 index added 84.85 or 0.40% to 22,111.30.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.14% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.07%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,055 shares rose and 1,815 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Auto index rose 0.87% to 20,368.20. The index declined 1.57% in the past trading session.
Sona BLW Precision Forgings (up 3.72%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.76%), Bajaj Auto (up 2%), Tata Motors (up 2%), Samvardhana Motherson International (up 1.3%), Bosch (up 1.03%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.26%) and Ashok Leyland (up 0.03%) advanced.
On the other hand, MRF (down 3.09%), TVS Motor Company (down 2.44%), and Tube Investments of India (down 1.33%) declined.
Numbers to Track:
The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark federal paper was up 0.28% to 7.082 as compared with the previous close of 7.062.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.9125, compared with its close of 82.8675 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for the 5 April 2024 settlement shed 0.18% to Rs 65,421.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback’s value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.03% to 103.40.
The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.7% to 4.307.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for the April 2024 settlement added 78 cents or 0.91% to $86.12 a barrel.
Stocks in spotlight:
J. Kumar Infraprojects shed 0.58%. The company said that it has received a letter of award (LOA) for a Delhi-based project worth Rs 334.25 crore from NBCC (India).
Housing & Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) slipped 3.53%. The company said that the board will meet on Wednesday, 20 March 2024, to consider a proposal to raise funds and also to increase the overall borrowing limit.
Gensol Engineering was locked in a 5% upper circuit at Rs 800.10 after the company successfully completed 160 megawatt (MW) ground-mounted solar projects for Continuum Green Energy in Bhavnagar, Gujarat.
The article originally appeared on Business Standard.