Benchmarks off day's high; auto stocks rally

Equity indices pared early gains and traded near the flat line in morning trade. The Nifty slipped below the 17,900 mark.

At 10:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 85.69 points or 0.14% at 60,134.73. The Nifty 50 index was up 10 points or 0.06% at 17,863.05. The Sensex hit record high of 60,339.28 in early trade.

The broader market witnessed selling. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.6% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.02%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,552 shares rose and 1,432 shares fell. A total of 191 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 231,820,895 with 4,748,055 deaths. India reported 299,620 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 447,194 deaths according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

In the last 24 hours, India recorded 26,041 new cases of COVID-19. The recovery rate currently stood at 97.78% with 29,621 recoveries in the last 24 hours taking the total recoveries to 3,29,31,972.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index gained 1.31% to 10,565.85. The index has added 4% in four trading session.

Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.98%), Tata Motors (up 2.59%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.03%), TVS Motor Company (up 1.97%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.88%), Motherson Sumi Systems (up 1.65%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.25%) and Bajaj Auto (up 1.15%) were the top gainers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

United Breweries fell 3.84% to Rs 1544.85 after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined the company about Rs 750 crore for indulging in cartelisation in the sale and supply of beer. CCI on Friday (24 September) imposed penalties on three beer makers as well as their trade association All India Brewers' Association (AIBA) for cartelisation. CCI passed a final order against UBL, SABMiller India (now known as Anheuser Busch InBev India) and Carlsberg India for indulging in cartelisation in the sale and supply of beer in various States and Union Territories in India. Based on evidences, CCI found that the three companies engaged in price co-ordination in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, West Bengal, National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry. The firms were collectively restricting beer supply in Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal. The companies were sharing market in Maharashtra and co-ordinating beer supply to premium institutions in Bengaluru. Further, the fair trade regulator also found co-ordination among UBL and AB InBev for purchase of second-hand bottles.

Astrazeneca Pharma India rose 1.14% after the drug company said that it received import and market permission in Form CT-20 from the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) for Selumetinib capsule. Selumetinib capsule is indicated for treatment of Pediatric patients 3 years of age and older with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and who have symptomatic, inoperable plexiform neurofibromas (PN).

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