Benchmarks trade near the flat line; pharma corrects for 2nd day

The key equity indices traded near the flat line with some positive bias in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered around 18,300 mark. Pharma shares declined for the second consecutive session.

At 14:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 60.23 points or 0.10% to 61,283.26. The Nifty 50 index gained 43.25 points or 0.24% to 18,299.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.32% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.70%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2300 shares rose and 1262 shares fell. A total of 135 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.641% as compared with 6.582% 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 74.2900, compared with its close of 74.1500 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 February 2022 settlement rose 0.35% to Rs 47,943.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, fell 0.11% to 95.06.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2022 settlement rose 14 cents or 0.16% to $86.20 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Ultratech Cement shed 0.20% to Rs 7640. On a consolidated basis, the cement major's net profit rose 7.83% to Rs 1,708 crore on 4.66% increase in net sales to Rs 12,710 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020. There is a one-time gain of Rs 535 crore in tax for earlier years. During the quarter, profit before tax (PBT) tumbled 29.93% year-on-year to Rs 1,634 crore. Profit Before Interest, Depreciation & Taxes (PBIDT) fell 25.94% to Rs 2,490 crore during the period under review.

Bhansali Engineering Polymers (BEPL) lost 8.77% to Rs 162.90 after the company posted a 44.4% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 75.71 crore on a 17% fall in revenue from operations to Rs 341.52 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index slipped 0.53% to 13,890.60. The index has declined 1.14% in the two sessions.

Granules India (down 7.55%), Laurus Labs (down 2.71%), Strides Pharma (down 1.89%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 1.24%), Lupin (down 1.21%) and Cipla (down 0.97%) declined while Ipca Laboratories (up 1.05%) and Natco Pharma (up 0.96%) advanced.

Global markets:

European stocks advanced while Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday as investors digested a string of corporate news and the latest growth data out of China.

China's economy grew by 8.1% in 2021, and industrial production rose steadily through the end of the year and offset a drop off in retail sales, according to official data from China's National Bureau of Statistics released on Monday. China's gross domestic product grew by 2.2% in 2020 from the prior year.

China's central bank on Monday cut the borrowing costs of its medium-term loans for the first time since April 2020. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it was lowering the interest rate on 700 billion yuan ($110.19 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to some financial institutions by 10 basis points to 2.85% from 2.95% in previous operations.

Investors kept an eye on the latest Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers in Brussels. Data releases in Europe on Monday include Italy consumer price data for December and final inflation data for the euro zone in December.

U.S. markets will remain closed today for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

New York Fed President John Williams, a key ally of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, said Friday that he expects economic growth to slow in 2022 to a 3.5% annual rate, from an estimated 5.5% rate last year, on the spread of omicron.

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