Barometers hit day's low; breadth positive

After a positive start, the key benchmarks reversed trend and hit the day's low in morning trade. Banks, financial services and metal stocks were under pressure. The Nifty was trading below 17,300 mark after hitting the day's high of 17,442.90 in initial deals.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 96.92 points or 0.17% at 57,899.76. The Nifty 50 index slipped 4.75 points or 0.03% at 17,317.45.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index skid 0.05% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 0.18%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,560 shares rose and 1,455 shares fell. A total of 123 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,890.96 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,180.14 crore in the Indian equity market on 16 February 2022, provisional data showed.

Meanwhile, oil skid in early Asian trade on Thursday after both France and Iran said parties were closer to an agreement to salvage Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, offsetting ongoing concerns over the situation in Ukraine. In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2022 settlement fell 69 cents at $94.12 a barrel.

Economy:

The government has approved the continuation of the Capacity Development (CD) Scheme till 31st of March, 2026. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in a statement said that the outlay approved for the continuation of the Scheme during 15th Finance Commission cycle is Rs 3,179 crore.

The Capacity Development Scheme is an Ongoing Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry with an overall objective to augment infrastructural, technical as well as manpower resources for enabling availability of credible and timely official statistics.

The Scheme encompasses all statistical and data management activities of the Ministry and plays a crucial role in generation and maintenance of official statistical system of the country.

The large-scale sample surveys undertaken by the Ministry cover important aspects of the economy and provide data inputs for policy framing of the Government.

Upcoming Results:

Nestle India (up 0.31%) and Ambuja Cements (down 0.17%) will report their quarterly results today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Bank index skid 0.76% to 37,665.90. The index lost 1.32% in two trading sessions.

RBL Bank (down 1.78%), IndusInd Bank (down 1.42%), AU Small Finance Bank (down 1.22%), Axis Bank (down 1.20%) and Federal Bank (down 1.15%) were the top losers in the Bank segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tata Motors rose 1.58%. Jaguar Land Rover announced formation of a multi-year strategic partnership with NVIDIA to jointly develop and deliver next-generation automated driving systems plus AI-enabled services. Starting in 2025, all new Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles will be built on the NVIDIA DRIVE software-defined platformdelivering a wide spectrum of active safety, automated driving and parking systems as well as driver assistance systems. Inside the vehicle, the system will deliver AI features, including driver and occupant monitoring as well as advanced visualisation of the vehicle's environment.

Jubilant Ingrevia gained 1.85%. The company announced the commissioning of its new Diketene derivatives facility at its manufacturing site in North India at Gajraula, Uttar Pradesh. Jubilant Ingrevia for many years has niche expertise in using Ketene chemistry technology. Using the Ketene chemistry capability, the company has developed a range of Diketene derivatives.

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