Benchmarks near day's high; IT stocks bounce

The benchmarks indices were currently near the day's high in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 17,450 mark. IT shares witnessed some bit of bargain buying.

At 14:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 640.98 points or 1.11% to 58,449.56. The Nifty 50 index added 188.85 points or 1.09% to 17,455.60.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1.13% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.46%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1688 shares rose and 1609 shares fell. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 1.34% to 34,983.50. The index declined 1.59% in the past two sessions.

L&T Technology Services (up 4.36%), Coforge (up 3.47%), MindTree (up 2.69%), HCL Tech (up 1.99%), Larsen & Toubro Infotech (up 1.97%), Wipro (up 1.46%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.37%), Infosys (up 1%), Mphasis (up 0.87%) and TCS (up 0.47%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care added 0.63% to Rs 15318.35. The company reported 15% fall in net profit to Rs 212 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 251 crore in Q3 FY21. The company delivered sales of Rs 1,093 crore, up 7% vs year ago behind the strength of its trusted product portfolio and strong retail execution.

Bosch added 1.93% to Rs 16375. The company reported 27.5% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 235 crore on a 2.6% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 3,109 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper was currently trading at 6.794% as compared with its previous closing of 6.810%.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 74.82, compared with its close of 74.745 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 February 2022 settlement added 0.10% to Rs 48,478.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2022 settlement added 13 cents or 0.14% to $90.91 a barrel.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as investors digested another batch of corporate earnings and awaited key inflation data later this week.

The US trade deficit surged to a record high in 2021 as imports increased sharply amid the restocking of shelves by businesses to meet robust domestic demand. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that the trade deficit increased 27% last year to an all-time high of $859.1 billion. The deficit was at $676.7 billion in 2020.

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

Powered by Capital Market - Live News