The domestic equity benchmarks pared gains and traded near the flat line in mid morning trade. The Nifty was a tad above the 17,550 mark. Media stocks were buzzing in trade.
At 11:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 32.7 points or 0.06% to 59,037.97. The Nifty 50 index added 1.45 points or 0.01% to 17,563.45.
The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.83% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.88%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2002 shares rose and 988 shares fell. A total of 155 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday revised down India's economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to 10%, from 11% predicted earlier, citing the adverse impact of the second wave of the pandemic.
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"The outbreak, however, dissipated faster than anticipated, resulting in several states easing lockdown measures and returning to more normal travel patterns. The economy is expected to rebound strongly in the remaining three quarters of FY2021, and grow by 10% in the full fiscal year before moderating to 7.5% in FY2022," said the Asian Development Outlook Update (ADOU) 2021.
In its Asian Development Outlook forecast in April this year, the multilateral funding agency had projected India to grow at 11% in the current fiscal year. "Because consumption will recover only gradually, government spending and exports will contribute more to FY2021's growth than they did in the previous fiscal year," it had said about India.
Primary Market:
Paras Defence and Space Technologies IPO opened for subscription from Tuesday (21 September) and it will close on Thursday (23 September).
The offer comprises of a fresh issue of up to Rs 140.60 crore and an offer for sale of up to 17,24,490 equity shares (including anchor portion of 29,27,485 equity shares) in the price band of Rs 165 to Rs 175 per share.
As on 11:18 IST, the IPO received bids for 16.21 crore shares as against 71.40 lakh shares on offer. The issue was subscribed 22.71 times so far.
The company intends to utilize the net proceeds from the fresh issue towards purchase of machinery and equipment amounting Rs 34.657 crore, funding incremental working capital requirements amounting Rs 60 crore, repayment or prepayment of all or certain borrowings amounting Rs 12 crore and for general corporate purposes. As of 31 July 2021, its aggregate outstanding indebtedness was Rs 115.827 crore.
Paras Defence and Space Technologies is primarily engaged in designing, developing, manufacturing and testing of a wide range of defence and space engineering products and solutions.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Media index surged 8.45% to 2,105.40. The index has added 9.72% in two sessions.
Zee Entertainment (up 18.60%), TV18 Broadcast (up 6.42%), Dish TV India (up 5.63%), Sun TV Network (up 4.61%), Jagran Prakashan (up 4.55%), Network 18 Media (up 4.51%) and Inox Leisure (up 3.53%) advanced.
Stocks in Spotlight:
ICICI Bank shed 0.74% to Rs 706. On the BSE, over 1.20 crore shares of the bank were traded in the counter so far as against an average trading volume of 1.84 lakh shares in the past two weeks.
Ramkrishna Forgings rose 1.51% to Rs 1,031.35 after the company won a non-auto segment order worth Rs 65 crore for supply of mining and earthmoving components from an Indian arm of Hitachi. The order will be supplied in FY22 and FY23.
Nucleus Software soared 12.02% to Rs 593.2 after the IT company said its board will consider a share buyback on Friday, 24 September 2021.
Global Markets:
Most Asian stocks were trading higher on Wednesday. Markets in Hong Kong are closed for a holiday.
Investors continued to assess the debt crisis at China Evergrande Group and prepare for a Federal Reserve meeting that is expected to signal a timetable for the reduction in stimulus later this year.
Property company Evergrande, which has more than $300 billion of liabilities, missed some interest payments due Monday and investors are seeking clues about how Beijing plans to deal with the cash crunch.
US stocks on Tuesday fought to rebound from Monday's rout, but failed as the Dow Jones Industrial average trended lower for most of the session and closed in the red. Worries over troubles at developer China Evergrande kept a lid on the market.
Investors were cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates and release of economic forecasts on Wednesday. Investors are looking for more information from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday about the central bank's plans to taper its bond buying, specifically when that will happen. Powell said last month that he sees the Fed slowing its $120 billion in monthly purchases at some point this year.
The US current account deficit increased to a 14-year high in the second quarter as businesses boosted imports to replenish depleted inventories amid robust consumer spending. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday the current account deficit rose 0.5% to $190.3 billion last quarter.
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