Indices trade with modest gains; pharma stocks decline

The domestic equity indices continued to trade with moderate gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded tad below the 18,150 mark after hitting the day's low of 18,086.50 in the early trade. Pharma stocks declined for the second day in a row.

At 14:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 156.64 points or 0.26% to 60,997.38. The Nifty 50 index added 41.20 points or 0.23% to 18,146.50.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.37% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.68%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,185 shares rose and 1,377 shares fell. A total of 192 shares were unchanged.

 

The Dow Jones Futures were down 60 points. European shares rose in the first trading session of 2023 on Monday. Most Asian indices were shut for public holiday.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 7.344 from its close of 7.327 recorded in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.7225, compared with its close of 82.61 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 3 February 2023 settlement added 0.21% to Rs 55,130.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.03% 103.49.

The United States 10-year bond yield advanced 1.24% to 3.879.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2023 settlement rose $2.77 cents or 3.32% to $86.23 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index declined 0.48% to 12,537.15. The index has slipped 0.77% in two sessions.

Divis Laboratories (down 1.09%), Natco Pharma (down 0.93%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.9%), Ipca Laboratories (down 0.87%), Cipla (down 0.86%), Laurus Labs (down 0.65%), Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.63%), Pfizer (down 0.49%), Sanofi India (down 0.44%) and Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries (down 0.3%) declined.

On the other hand, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 1.14%), Abbott India (up 0.86%) and Granules India (up 0.53%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bharat Forge rose 0.78% after the company on Monday announced that its step-down subsidiary, J S Auto Cast Foundry India (JS Auto) has entered into a business transfer agreement with Indo Shell Mould (ISML) for acquiring their SEZ Unit in SIPCOT, Erode.

SML Isuzu hit an upper circuit of 20% after the company's total sales jumped 37% to 959 units in December 2022 from 701 units sold in December 2021. On a sequential basis, total sales surged 31.55% from 729 units sold in November 2022.

NMDC advanced 2.23% after the state-owned iron ore miner has increases prices of lump ore and fines, effective from 1 January 2023. Separately, miner said that its iron ore production slipped 8.6% to 3.61 million tonnes (MT) in December 2022 as against 3.95 MT in December 2021.

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