Benchmarks sharply pare gains; auto shares in demand

The key equity benchmarks sharply pared gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded a tad above the 17,250 mark. Auto shares advanced for the second day in a row.

At 13:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 77.03 points or 0.13% to 57,670.52. The Nifty 50 index added 29.85 points or 0.17% to 17,251.85.

Divi's Lab (up 3.15%), Ultratech Cement (up 2.32%), Bharti Airtel (up 2.22%), HDFC (up 2.06%) and SBI Life (up 2.02%) were the top Nifty gainers.

ONGC (down 2.98%), Coal India (down 2.75%), IndusInd Bank (down 0.98%), ITC (down 0.31%) and Power Grid Corp (down 0.78%) were the top Nifty losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.32% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.39%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative. On the BSE, shares 1,421 rose and 1,879 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

Global Markets:

European stocks advanced on Tuesday. Investors in the European region remain focused on developments in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv's negotiators were studying a Russian demand for Ukrainian neutrality. The comments came ahead of new face-to-face talks between Ukraine and Russia, set to start Tuesday in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks advanced as crude oil prices slumped overnight on demand concerns arising from a new lockdown in Shanghai, diving more than 8%.

In Washington, President Joe Biden released an annual $5.8 trillion (S$7.89 trillion) budget plan that would steer $6.9 billion towards Ukraine to assist in defending against Russia's invasion, as well as to aid NATO.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index rose 0.71% to 10,495.40. The index has added 1.36% in two sessions.

Eicher Motors (up 2.02%), TVS Motor Company (up 1.10%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.96%), Bharat Forge (up 0.86%), Tata Motors (up 0.80%), Maruti Suzuki (up 0.59%), Ashok Leyland (up 0.31%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 0.28%) advanced.

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