Sensex jumps 128 points in early trade, Nifty at 15,790; metals lead

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Indian benchmark equity indices opened in the green on Wednesday tracking a positive trend in global markets. At open, Sensex advanced 128 points or 0.24% to 52,686, while Nifty 50 rose 41 points or 0.27% to 15,790.

Maruti Suzuki, up nearly 2%, was the top Sensex gainer followed by Tata Steel, Asain Paints, Infosys and Nestle India. PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, NTPC, HUL and Bajaj Finserv were aming the laggards.

On the sectoral front, the Nifty Metal jumped 1.06%, Nifty Auto rose 0.63%, the Nifty IT added 0.54%, Nifty FMCG & Nifty Pharma gained around 0.25%. Nifty Realty and Nifty Bank were in the red.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index added 0.23% to 22,594 and the BSE SmallCap index rose 0.64% at 25,252. Market breadth was also positive as 1,235 shares on the BSE advanced, while 547 declined and 475 remained unchanged.

“The market mood is changing fast. The major positives for the market now are the steadily declining fresh Covid cases ( around 37000 yesterday) and fast-rising vaccinations, which will facilitate the further easing of restrictions and rebound in economic activity. From the market perspective, the fact that FPIs have ceased selling and the DIIs have turned aggressive buyers are strong positives. Therefore, it is quite possible that the market may again favour the bulls and the ‘buy on dips strategy’ may resume. Since exports are doing well & INR has depreciated, exporters are likely to do well. In banking, the share of the private sector in credit approvals has risen above 36%. This is positive for the leading private bank majors,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services

Earnings today

SpiceJet, Vodafone Idea, Alankit, Anant Raj, Archies, BF Utilities, BGR Energy Systems, Binani Industries, Dish TV India, Emami Realty, FIEM Industries, GM Polyplast, Indowind Energy, IRCON International, IVRCL, Liberty Shoes, McNally Bharat Engineering, MEP Infrastructure Developers, Ortel Communications, Sadbhav Engineering, Sanwaria Consumer, Sequent Scientific and others will be reporting their quarterly earnings today.

Stocks in spotlight

Cipla, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Torrent Pharmaceuticals announced that the five companies will collaborate for the clinical trial of the investigational oral anti-viral drug Molnupiravir for the treatment of mild COVID-19 in an outpatient setting in India.

Cipla is supporting Moderna, Inc. with the regulatory approval and importation of vaccines to be donated to India. At this stage, there is no definitive agreement on commercial supplies. Reliance Industries (RIL) will be in focus as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced that RIL, has signed an agreement to join a new world-scale Chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production facility at TA’ZIZ in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. The agreement capitalizes on the growing demand for these critical industrial raw materials and leverages the strengths of ADNOC and RIL as global industrial and energy leaders.

Under the terms of the agreement, TA’ZIZ and Reliance will construct an integrated plant, with the capacity to produce 940 thousand tons of Chlor-alkali, 1.1 million tons of ethylene dichloride and 360 thousand tons of PVC annually

NBCC (India) has been awarded the work order for engagement as a Project Management Consultant for undertaking various civil works of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation. NBCC is a project Management Consultant for this Project of the value Rs. 206 crore (approx.).

ISGEC Heavy Engineering has received a prestigious order for Wet Limestone Flue Gas Desulphurisation System and Flue Gas Conditioning System Package (FGD-FGC Package) from Odisha Power Generation Corporation Ltd. for their2x660 MW TPPIB Thermal Power Station at Banharpalli, Jharsuguda, Odisha.