Barometers at day's high, Nifty above 17,600 level

The benchmark indices marched higher and hit an intraday high in the morning trade. The Nifty traded a tad above the 17,600 level. Oil & gas, financial services and private bank shares were in demand while IT, media and pharma stocks edged lower.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 433.49 points or 0.74% to 59,394.09. The Nifty 50 index gained 114.15 points or 0.65% to 17,601.10.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.45% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.58%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,083 shares rose and 1,025 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 153.40 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,084.71 crore in the Indian equity market on 18 October, provisional data showed.

Earnings Today:

UltraTech Cement (up 1.28%), IndusInd Bank (down 0.66%), HDFC Asset Management Company (up 2.50%), Nestle India (down 0.23%), 5paisa Capital (up 0.79%), AU Small Finance Bank (up 0.46%), CG Power and Industrial Solutions (up 1.44%), Havells India (up 0.75%), Home First Finance Company India (up 1.35%), Inox Leisure (up 0.76%), Metro Brands (down %), Max Financial Services (up 2.11%), Nippon Life India Asset Management (up 0.06%), Navin Fluorine International (up 1.07%), Persistent stems (up 0.45%), Shoppers Stop (up 2.39%), and Syngene International (up 0.21%) will announce their quarterly earnings later today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index gained 1.19% to 7,685.65. The index advanced nearly 3% in two trading sessions.

Aegis Logistics (up 4.23%), Gujarat Gas (up 1.87%), Adani Total Gas (up 1.56%), Reliance Industries (up 0.97%), Mahanagar Gas (up 0.53%), Indraprastha Gas (up 0.41%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 0.36%), GAIL (India) (up 0.35%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 0.3%) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 0.3%) edged higher.

On the other hand, Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (down 0.51%), Castrol India (down 0.48%) and Oil India (down 0.18%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

L&T Technology Services (LTTS) slipped 3.27% after the company reported 3% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 282.4 crore on a 6.5% rise in revenue to Rs 1,995.1 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q1 FY23. As compared with Q2 FY22, the company's net profit and revenue are higher by 22.8% and 24.1%, respectively. During the quarter, LTTS won $60 million plus deal and a deal with total contract value (TCV) of $10 million.

Tata Motors rose 0.36%. The auto major said that it won the tender of 200 electric buses, floated by Jammu Smart City, for Jammu and Srinagar. Tata Motors has entered into a strategic collaboration for the deployment of the electric buses in twin capital cities of Jammu and Kashmir. The collaboration is a part of an initiative of Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Jammu & Kashmir to establish an environmentally, socially and financially sustainable network of public transport for Jammu and Srinagar.

HFCL gained 2.38%. The telecom company's consolidated net profit rose marginally by 0.3% to Rs 81.86 crore on 4.6% increase in net sales to Rs 1,173.47 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q2 FY22.

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