The key equity benchmarks traded with decent gains in early trade, bolstered by the across the board buying in IT stocks. The Nifty traded above the 17,800 mark.
At 09:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 226.76 points or 0.38% to 60,658.60. The Nifty 50 index gained 51.40 points or 0.29% to 17,822.30.
UPL (up 2.74%), Infosys (up 1.33%), TCS (up 1.14%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.99%), Wipro (up 0.84%) and HCL Tech (up 0.81%) were the top Nifty gainers.
Adani Enterprises (down 1.19%), Apollo Hospitals (down 1.14%), Tata Motors (down 0.93%), IndusInd Bank (down 0.81%) and Titan (down 0.72%) were the top Nifty laggards.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.21% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.04%
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,337 shares rose and 1,157 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
India's retail inflation accelerated to a three-month high in January, reverting to over the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance band of 6% after a gap of two months, led by a spike in food prices and elevated prices in the non-food segment.
Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) hardened to 6.52% in January, after declining to a one-year low level of 5.72% in December, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Monday. Core inflation, which is non-food, non-fuel inflation remained over the 6% mark at 6.2% in January.
The unexpected surge in headline inflation has raised the likelihood of further tightening of the monetary policy in April, with economists reportedly estimating inflation to remain over the 6% mark over the coming months due to sticky core inflation.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) fell 2.38%. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 5241.10 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 4893.91 crore in Q3 FY22. Total income increased to Rs 19662.65 crore from Rs 19213.69 crore.
FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa) slipped 3.34%. Nykaa reported 71% drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 8.49 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 29.02 crore in Q3 FY22. Operating revenue fell 0.1% YoY to Rs 2111.2 crore during the quarter.
Steel Authority of India (Sail) rose 0.30%. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 542.18 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 1528.54 crore in Q3 FY22. Total income increased to Rs 25140.16 crore from Rs 25398.37 crore.
Castrol India added 0.88%. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 193.32 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2022 from Rs 188.58 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2021. Total income increased to Rs 1195.65 crore from Rs 1103 crore.
Numbers to track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.38% to 7.394 from 7.366 previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.5700, compared with its close of 82.7000 during the previous trading session
MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement rose 0.28% to Rs 56,658.
The United States 10-year bond yield fell 0.52% to 3.700.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.18% to 103.16.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2023 settlement lost 63 cents or 0.73% to $85.98 a barrel.
Global markets:
Asian stocks mostly advanced on Tuesday as investors await the release of the U.S. consumer price index report, which will shape the Federal Reserve's path ahead.
Japan's economy expanded by 0.6% on an annualized basis for the fourth quarter of 2022. The figure was a rebound from a revised contraction of 1% seen in the third quarter of 2022 compared to a year ago.
On Tuesday, the Japanese government is expected to name academic Kazuo Ueda as its pick to become the next central bank governor. Kazuo Ueda's probable appointment as the next governor of the Bank of Japan could improve the odds of an end to its unpopular yield control policy.
A global research house on Monday reportedly cut Japanese stocks to "underweight", saying that a Bank of Japan (BOJ) policy change away from its "ultra-loose" monetary strategy could push global yields higher and reduce risk appetite.
Wall Street closed sharply higher on Monday as investors awaited inflation data likely to hint at the path of the Federal Reserve's future interest rate hikes, while Meta Platforms gained after a report that the Facebook parent was planning fresh layoffs.
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