Benchmarks trade with decent gains; strong market breadth

The domestic equity benchmarks traded with decent gains in early trade, amid some buying in index pivotals. Metals, IT, bank and financial shares edged higher.

At 09:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 439.17 points or 0.74% to 59,746.10. The Nifty 50 index added 140.90 points or 0.80% to 17,812.55.

The key equity indices witnessed some bargain buying after declining by over 3% in the past three sessions. The selling pressure in the benchmark indices rose amid indications of major central banks that they would begin draining liquidity from the system soon.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.78% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.93%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1653 shares rose and 623 shares fell. A total of 117 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.62% to Rs 2,551.90. Jio and Google announced that JioPhone Next, the made-for-India smartphone jointly designed by the two companies, will be available in stores from Diwali. It will be available in stores from Diwali with an entry price of only Rs 1,999 and the rest paid via easy EMI over 18/24 months.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories added 0.51% to Rs 4,683.15. The drug maker reported 30% rise in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 992 crore on a 18% rise in revenue to Rs 5763 crore in Q2 FY22 over Q2 FY21.

UPL fell 1.97% to Rs 725.65. The agrochemicals manufacturer reported 36% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 633 crore on a 18% rise in revenue to Rs 10567 crore in Q2 FY22 over Q2 FY21.

Indian Oil Corporation advanced 1.84% to Rs 130.30. The PSU OMC reported standalone net profit of Rs 6360.50 crore in Q2FY 22 as compared to net profit of Rs 6227.31 crore in Q2 FY21. Total income rose to Rs 1,71,204.49 crore in Q2 FY22 from Rs 1,17,286.41 crore in Q2 FY21.

Shree Cement gained 2.21% to Rs 29,267.50. The cement maker reported consolidated net profit of Rs 563.94 crore in Q2 FY22 as compared with net profit of Rs 527.87 crore in Q2 FY21. Total income rose to Rs 3526.95 crore from Rs 3364.84 crore.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks are trading mixed on Monday as investors reacted to economic data that showed a mixed picture of Chinese manufacturing activity in October.

China's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for October came in at 49.2 over the weekend, below the 50 level separating expansion from contraction. It represented the second straight month of shrinking manufacturing activity in the country, following September's official manufacturing PMI reading of 49.6.

However, a private survey released Monday showed Chinese manufacturing activity growth in October expanding with the Caixin/Markit manufacturing PMI coming in at 50.6.

Wall Street capped a choppy day of trading Friday with modest gains for stocks, nudging the major indexes to more all-time highs.

Investors will be monitoring the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting Tuesday and Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to announce that it will begin to unwind its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases and end the program entirely by the middle of next year.

Meanwhile, leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies (G-20) endorsed on Saturday a global minimum tax aimed at stopping big business from hiding profits in tax havens, and also agreed to get more Covid vaccines to poorer nations. G-20 leaders broadly backed calls to extend debt relief for impoverished countries and pledged to vaccinate 70% of the world's population against Covid-19 by mid-2022.

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