Barometers hit day's high; IT stocks in demand

The domestic equity barometers extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty marched towards the 17,650 mark. Investors cheered the RBI's decision to keep the key policy rates unchanged.

At 14:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 570.96 points or 0.98% to 59,036.93. The Nifty 50 index gained 163.75 points or 0.94% at 17,627.55.

The broader market lagged the main indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.42% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.20%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1,611 shares rose and 1,690 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 0.99% to 35,329.80. The index has added 2.34% in two sessions.

Mphasis (up 2.63%), L&T Technology Services (up 2.49%), Infosys (up 1.56%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.97%), MindTree (up 0.72%), HCL Tech (up 0.61%), TCS (up 0.51%) and Wipro (up 0.45%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 1.10% to Rs 849.85. M&M reported 22% fall in standalone net profit before exceptional items to Rs 1,353 crore in Q3 FY22 as compared with Rs 1,745 crore in Q3 FY21. Revenue rose by 8% YoY to Rs 15,239 crore during the quarter. The company sold 1,18,174 vehicles in Q3 FY22, which is lower by 2% as against 1,21,133 vehicles sold in the same period last year. Tractor sales in Q3 FY22 amounted to 91,769 units (down 9% YoY).

BEML shed 0.35% to Rs 1857.40. The company's consolidated net profit soared 183.73% to Rs 78.51 crore on a 55.59% jump in net sales to Rs 1,133.09 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper was currently trading at 6.719% as compared with its previous closing of 6.798%.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 74.9850, compared with its close of 74.8400 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 February 2022 settlement added 0.05% to Rs 48,683.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2022 settlement added 27 cents or 0.29% to $91.82 a barrel.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Thursday as investors await the release of U.S. consumer inflation data.

Meanwhile, investors await the release of U.S. consumer inflation data on Thursday for clues on how the Federal Reserve could react to the rising price pressures.

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