Barometers turn range bound; Nifty hovers above 17,900

The headline equity indices traded in a narrow range near the day's high with moderate gains in the afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the 17,900 level. Barring the Nifty Auto index, all the other sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the green. Investors awaited the release of the US FOMC minutes of meeting scheduled later today.

At 13:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 382.81 points or 0.64% to 60,225.02. The Nifty 50 index added 106.5 points or 0.60% to 17,931.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.68% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.62%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,008 shares rose and 1,338 shares fell. A total of 135 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Bajaj Finserv (up 5.80%), Bajaj Finance (up 4.01%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (up 3.08%), Tech Mahindra (up 2.31%) and Eicher Motors (up 2.17%) were major Nifty gainers.

Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.19%), Apollo Hospitals (down 1.18%), Coal India (down 0.96%), Cipla (down 0.65%) and Maruti Suzuki (down 0.60%) were majority Nifty losers.

Cipla shed 0.65%. The pharma major on Tuesday announced that its board has approved the appointment of Ashish Adukia as the global chief financial officer (CFO) and key managerial personnel of the company with effect from 16 August 2022.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bharti Airtel gained 2.16%. The telecom major said that it has paid Rs 8,312.4 crore to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) towards dues for spectrum acquired in the recently concluded 5G auctions. As per the regulatory filing, Airtel has paid 4 years of 2022 spectrum dues upfront. The company believes that this upfront payment coupled with the moratorium on spectrum dues and AGR related payments for four years will free up future cash flows and allow Airtel to dedicate resources to single-mindedly concentrate on the 5G roll out.

Aarti Drugs jumped 12.23%. The media reported that the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended continuation of anti-dumping duty on Ofloxacin imported from China. The company had earlier filed an application for anti-dumping duty on Ofloxacin and its intermediates imported from China.

Bharat Gears zoomed 17.77%. The meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled on 19 August 2022, to consider and approve issue of bonus shares of the company by way of capitalization of reserves.

Global Markets:

European and Asian stocks advanced on Wednesday as strong overnight earnings for U.S. retail giants pointed to further scope for the Federal Reserve to tackle inflation with rate hikes.

UK consumer price index rose 10.1% annually, according to estimates published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday, up from 9.4% in June.

Japan's exports rose for the 17th month in a row in July, driven by strong demand for autos and mineral fuels, Ministry of Finance data showed Wednesday. Exports rose 19% in July from a year earlier. Exports rose 19.4% in June.

In US, the Dow and S&P 500 rose on Tuesday as stronger-than-expected results and outlooks from Walmart and Home Depot bolstered views on the health of consumers, while technology shares declined and weighed on the Nasdaq.

Production at US factories increased more than expected in July as output rose at motor vehicle plants and elsewhere. Manufacturing output rebounded 0.7% last month after declining 0.4% in June, the Federal Reserve said on Tuesday. Output increased by 3.2% compared to July 2021.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a tax, health and climate bill and a significantly reduced version of the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan he was pushing for last year.

New Zealand raised its cash rate by another 50 basis points to 3%, the latest in a series of interest rate hikes in an effort to curb inflation.

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