Barometers trade with minor gains; healthcare stocks in demand

The domestic equity benchmarks traded with minor gains in mid afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading a tad below the 17,250 mark. Healthcare stocks advanced for the third straight session.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 67.77 points or 0.12% to 57,965.25. The Nifty 50 index rose 16.55 points or 0.10% to 17,249.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.19% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.63%.

Among the broader market stocks, Bharat Rasayan (up 11.58%), Rain Industries (up 10.58%), Poonawalla Fincorp (up 10%), Graphite India (up 7.99%) and Basf India (up 6.80%) were the top gainers.

JK Cement (down 4.90%), Minda Industries (down 4.08%), The Phoenix Mills (down 3.61%), Timken India (down 2.94%) and PVR (down 2.82%) were the top losers.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2124 shares rose and 1209 shares fell. A total of 106 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Healthcare index rose 1.83% to 8,860.20, extending gains for third consecutive sessions. The index has advanced 4.25% in three sessions.

Laurus Labs (up 4.27%), Sun Pharma (up 2.72%), Lal Path Labs (up 2.04%), Apollo Hospitals (up 1.98%), IPCA Labs (up 1.93%), Torrent Pharma (up 1.93%), Alkem (up 1.87%) and Divi's Lab (up 1.86%) were the top index gainers.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.464% compared with 6.478% at close in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 74.7975, compared with its close of 74.7000 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 February 2022 settlement rose 0.05% to Rs 47,925.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.11% to 96.31.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2022 settlement rose 23 cents or 0.29% to $78.90 a barrel.

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