The domestic equity benchmarks traded neat the flat line, with some positive bias, in afternoon trade. The Nifty tad above the 17,550 mark. Trading was volatile on account of monthly options expiry.
At 13:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 35.37 points or 0.06% to 59,780.35. The Nifty 50 index added 0.45 points to 17,554.75.
Among the Nifty 50 stocks, ITC (up 2.19%), UPL (up 1.31%), Axis Bank (up 1.30%), Coal India (up 1.18%) and Hindalco (up 1.17%) advanced.
Concurrently, Asian Paints (down 2.31%), Adani Enterprises (down 1.77%), HDFC Life (down 1.55%), Titan (down 1.54%) and IndusInd Bank (down 1.51%) declined.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.48% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.20%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,556 shares rose and 1,788 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged.
The minutes from the recent meetings of the Reserve Bank of India and the U.S. Federal Reserve minutes revealed that they are willing to keep increasing the interest rates as inflation remains a concern.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Hero MotoCorp shed 0.45%. VIDA, Powered by Hero, the mobility brand of Hero MotoCorp has initiated operations of its public charging infrastructure in Bengaluru, Delhi and Jaipur. The brand has set up nearly 300 charging points at 50 locations across the three cities for public use.
Wipro added 0.20%. Wipro Lab45, the innovation lab of Wipro, announced the launch of its Decentralized Identity and Credential Exchange (DICE) ID, which puts users in control of their personal data and enables faster, easier and secure sharing of private information online.
Sonata Software jumped 5.04%. The company's wholly owned subsidiary Sonata Software North America Inc. announced the signing of definitive agreement for acquiring 100% stake in Quant Systems Inc. The acquisition has been done for an upfront payment of $65 million. Acquisition cost involves a deferred achievement-based earn-out / pay-outs upto a maximum of $95 million payable over 2 years and certain additional payments on achievement of additional targets.
Biocon declined 1.35%. The company has fulfilled its payment obligation and has fully redeemed the commercial papers (CPs) of Rs. 2,250 crore on maturity date of 22 February 2023.
Mahindra CIE Automotive advanced 0.70%. The company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 657.81 crore in Q4 CY2022 as against a consolidated net profit of Rs 80.23 crore in Q4 CY2021. However, revenue from operations rose 34.6% year on year to Rs 2,246.84 crore in Q4 CY2022.
Global Markets:
European markets mostly advanced while their most Asian peers traded mixed on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve released the minutes of its most recent meeting that showed central bank members are still committed to fighting inflation with rate hikes.
The Japanese market is closed today for the Emperor's birthday.
Inflation remained well above the Fed's 2% target and the labor market remained very tight, contributing to continuing upward pressures on wages and prices, according to the minutes.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea held its interest rates at 3.5%, a first in nearly a year of rate hikes, and in line with expectations.
Wall Street ended broadly lower on Wednesday, with investors cautious despite the latest guidance on rate policy from the US central bank showing few surprises.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's January 31-February 1 meeting said that "almost all" Fed officials agreed to slow the pace of increases in interest rates to a quarter of a percentage point.
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