Barometers sharply pare losses; broader markets outperform

The domestic equity barometers traded near the flat line, with some negative bias, in morning trade. The Nifty traded tad above the 17,700 level after hitting the day's low at 17,602.25 in early trade. Oil & gas shares extended gains for fourth consecutive session.

At 10:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 48.1 points or 0.08% to 60,176.36. The Nifty 50 index lost 4.85 points or 0.03% to 17,706.60.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.07% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.10%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,624 shares rose and 1,464 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.

Investor sentiment nosedived after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's stated that the central bank will likely need to raise interest rates for a longer period. He said that the Fed is all set to take larger rate hikes following strong economic data and will likely move in larger steps if future economic data indicates tougher measures to control inflation. This would mark a reversal of the central bank's actions over the last two meetings when it trimmed the size of its rate hikes from 75 basis points to 25 basis points.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 0.83% to 7,308.20. The index has added 5.28% in five sessions.

Aegis Logistics (up 6.14%), Adani Total Gas (up 5%), GAIL (India) (up 2.66%), Oil India (up 2.17%) and Petronet LNG (up 1.8%) were the top gainers.

Among the other gainers were Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 0.73%), Gujarat State Petronet (up 0.67%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 0.66%), Indraprastha Gas (up 0.56%) and Mahanagar Gas (up 0.22%).

On the other hand, Gujarat Gas (down 0.67%), Castrol India (down 0.3%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.25%) turned lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) rose 1.96% while Larsen & Toubro (L&T) added 2.06%. The Union Ministry of Defence on Tuesday signed two separate contracts with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Larsen & Toubro for 70 Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) basic trainer aircraft and three cadet training ships, respectively, at a cumulative cost of Rs 9,900 crore.

Deccan Gold Mines was locked in 5% upper circuit. The company has emerged as the highest bidder in e-auction for Bhalukona - Jamnidih Nickel, Chromium and Associated PGE Block in Chhattisgarh.

Star Paper Mills was up 0.15%. A fire occurred in one of the wood yards of the company's mill at Saharanpur (UP) at around 2.15 PM on 6 March 2023. The fire was controlled later on with the help of local administration. The incident has been reported to insurance company. The extent of damage is being ascertained. The manufacturing operations are unaffected due to above incident.

Artson Engineering gained 2.27%. The company has received purchase order worth Rs 14.49 crore from Tata Projects. The order is for supplying pressure vessels and its mandatory, erection & commissioning spares.

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