Indices snap 3-day streak; Nifty ends below 17,600

The domestic equity benchmarks ended with deep cuts on Thursday, snapping a three-day gaining streak. After opening higher at 17,772.05, the Nifty 50 index declined as the session progressed and hit the day's low of 17,573.60 in late trade. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE. Barring the Nifty Metal index, all the sectoral indices ended in the red. Auto, consumer durables and realty shares were under pressure.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex fell 541.81 or 0.90% to 59,806.28. The Nifty 50 index lost 164.80 points or 0.93% to 17,589.60. In the past three sessions, the Sensex gained 2.44% while the Nifty increased 2.5%.

Tata Steel (up 1.60%), Larsen & Toubro (up 1.02%) and Apollo Hospitals (up 0.82%) were top Nifty gainers.

Adani Enterprises (down 4.82%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 3.47%) and SBI Life Insurance Company (down 2.81%) were major Nifty losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.55% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.20%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,565 shares rose and 1,923 shares fell. A total of 127 shares were unchanged.

Meanwhile, the NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, advanced 2.20% to 12.73.

Numbers to Watch:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.442 from 7.459 previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 81.02, compared with its close of 81.9550 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement rose 0.13% to Rs 54,982.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.22% to 105.43.

The United States 10-year bond yield advanced 0.34% to 3.989.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2023 settlement rose 7 cents or 0.08% to $82.73 a barrel.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia declined on Thursday, as investors digested more comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Powell reportedly reiterated his warning message to lawmakers that the central bank may raise interest rates higher than previously anticipated. However, he reportedly said he hasn't made up his mind about what the central bank will do regarding interest rates when it meets later in March.

Japan's GDP grew slower at 0.1% on an annualized for the October-December quarter. The reading is weaker compared with preliminary estimates of a 0.6% growth, and also comes in lower than a 0.8% expansion. Private consumption, which accounts for around 57% of Japan's GDP, inched up by only 0.3%.

Meanwhile, China's consumer price index (CPI) for February was 1.0% higher than a year earlier, rising at the slowest pace since February 2022 and compared with the 2.1% annual rise seen in January, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In the US, major stock indexes ended mixed as traders parsed stronger than expected economic data, sparking concerns of bigger rate increases following Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's congressional speech.

Stronger-than-expected private payrolls numbers for February reaffirmed the strength of the US economy. Private employment increased by 242,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment report showed on Wednesday. Data for January was revised higher to show 119,000 jobs added instead of 106,000 as previously reported.

Vacancies at US employers retreated at the start of the year but remained historically elevated. The number of available positions decreased to 10.8 million in January from an upwardly revised 11.2 million a month earlier, the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Wednesday.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Sequent Scientific surged 19.22% after the company called off the proposed acquisition of Tineta Pharma. The company said: "the transaction contemplated under the Share Purchase Agreement has not been materialized. Therefore, the Company will not acquire Tineta and the Share Purchase Agreement entered by the Company with Tineta and its Promoters on November 07, 2022 stands terminated."

Reliance Industries fell 2.37%. Radisys Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance's Jio Platforms has signed definitive aggreements to acquire Mimosa Networks from Airspan Networks Holdings for $60 million on a debt free, cash free basis.

Power Grid Corporation of India fell 0.57%. The company has announced its plans to issue unsecured, non-convertible, non-cumulative, redeemable, taxable PowerGrid bonds-LXXI aggregating upto Rs 900 crore on private placement basis. The PSU's committee of directors for bonds has approved issue of bonds having base size of upto Rs 300 crore and green shoe option upto Rs 600 crore.

State Bank of India (SBI) declined 1.01%. The country's largest lender has raised Rs 3,717 crore through its third Basel III compliant Additional Tier 1 bond issuance in the current financial year on Wednesday at coupon rate of 8.25%. The proceeds of bonds will be utilized in augmenting Additional Tier 1 Capital and overall capital base of the bank and for strengthening capital adequacy in accordance with RBI Guidelines.

Bharat Forge slipped 0.99%. The company through its E-Mobility subsidiary, Kalyani Powertrain, inaugurated its first E-bike manufacturing facility at MIDC Chakan on 8 March 2023. The facility has a production capacity of 60,000 units per annum and scalable to 100,000 units per annum, will undertake assembly of E-bikes for Tork Motors, 64.29% owned by Kalyani Powertrain.

Kirloskar Oil Engines shed 0.42%. Ten investors have picked up 13.65% stake in the company through bulk deals on Wednesday (8 March 2023), at an average price of Rs 322 per share, amounting to Rs 636 crore. Three promoters offloaded 17.71% stake in the company.

Jindal Stainless lost 0.93%. iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has picked up 33.69 lakh equity shares (0.64% stake) in the stainless steel company through open market transactions, at an average price of Rs 309.42 per share.

Muthoot Finance declined 0.57%. The NBFC's board approved raising upto Rs 6,500 crore in one or more tranches by issuing redeemable non convertible debentures (NCDs) on private placement basis.

Ugro Capital added 1.65%. The investment and borrowing committee of the company's board allotted 5,000 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 50 crore including a green shoe option of 2,500 NCDs for Rs 25 crore through private placement basis.

G R Infraprojects advanced 2.14%. The civil construction company announced that it has been emerged as lowest (L‐1) bidder for a tender by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under Bharatmala Pariyojana in Bihar on hybrid annuity mode. The bid project cost stood at Rs 1,248.37 crore. The construction is expected to be completed in 730 days from appointed date and the operation period is 15 years from the commercial operation date.

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