Nifty nears 16,700 mark; IT stocks rally for third day

The main indices traded near the record high level with decent gains in morning trade. The Nifty hovered near the 16,700 mark. IT, banks and financial shares were in demand while realty and metal stocks corrected.

At 10:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 301.53 points or 0.54% at 56,093.66. The Nifty 50 index gained 80.05 points or 0.48% at 16,694.45.

The Sensex hit record high of 56,099.61 while the Nifty scaled record high of 16,701.35 in morning trade.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.54% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.33%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1399 shares rose and 1460 shares fell. A total of 114 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 208,554,450 with 4,381,805 global deaths.

India reported 367,415 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 432,519 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

India reported 35,178 new cases in last 24 hours. Active cases constituted 1.14% of total cases, lowest since March 2020. India's active caseload of 3,67,415 is lowest in 148 days. Recovery rate stood at 97.52%, highest since March 2020. 56.06 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under nationwide vaccination drive.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index gained 1.08% to 33,774.20. The index has added 6.64% in three days.

Mindtree (up 5.99%), Coforge (up 2.4%), Mphasis (up 2.35%), L&T Infotech (up 1.39%), TCS (up 0.76%) and HCL Tech (up 0.71%) were top gainers in IT space.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Cadila Healthcare rose 0.79%. The drug major informed that it received tentative approval from the US-based drug regulator to market lenalidomide capsules in the multiple strengths. Lenalidomide is used to treat various types of cancers. It is also used to treat anemia in patients with certain blood/bone marrow disorders (myelodysplastic syndromes-MDS).

Bharat Dynamics rose 2.91% to Rs 382 after the company signed a licencing agreement with MBDA to establish a facility for the final assembly, integration, and test of advanced short-range air-to-air missile (ASRAAM) missiles in India. MBDA is the only European defence group capable of designing and producing missiles and missile systems that correspond to the full range of current and future operational needs of the three-armed forces (land, sea and air). MBDA has a significant presence in five European countries and in the USA.

Kaveri Seed Company gained 3.47% to Rs 597 at 9:16 IST on BSE after the company said that the meeting of its board of directors will be held on 25 August 2021, to consider the proposal for buy back of equity shares.

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