Equities extend day's high; Nifty nears 16,800 mark

The benchmark indices hit fresh intraday high during afternoon trade, buoyed by bank and IT stocks. The Nifty traded above 16,750 mark.

At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 597.99 points or 1.08% at 56,148.29. The Nifty 50 index gained 136.35 points or 0.82% at 16,766.80.

Infosys (up 2.74%), HDFC Bank (up 2.73%) and ICICI Bank (up 2.45%) boosted the market.

Broader markets traded sideways. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index skid 0.38%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.11%.

Buyers outnumbered the sellers. On the BSE, 1,744 shares rose and 1,637 shares fell. A total of 140 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The wholesale price-based inflation (WPI) in February 2022 rose to 13.11% on hardening of prices of crude oil and non-food items, despite softening of food articles. As per the government data released on Monday, the WPI inflation has remained in double digits for the 11th consecutive month beginning April 2021. Inflation last month stood at 12.96%, while in February last year, it was 4.83%.

Inflation in food articles, however, eased to 8.19% in February from 10.33%. Vegetable inflation was 26.93% in February, against 38.45% in the previous month. Inflation in manufactured items was 9.84% in February, against 9.42% in January. In the fuel and power basket, the rate of price rise was 31.50% during the month.

Gainers & Losers:

State Bank of India (SBI) (up 3.08%), Infosys (up 2.74%), HDFC Bank (up 2.73%), ICICI Bank (up 2.45%) and Axis Bank (up 2.33%) were the major gainer in Nifty 50 index.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) (down 2.55%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (down 2.50%), Tata Motors (down 1.94%), Coal India (down 1.87%) and Hindalco Industries (down 1.60%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) rose 0.57%. The construction firm announced that The Gujarat Water Infrastructure (GWIL) has placed engineering, procurement and construction orders to the company for the design and construction of the Dhanki-Navda Bulk Pipeline project in Gujarat. As per L&T's classification, the value of the significant project is Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore. The project aims to enhance water supply capacity to meet the future demands of Amreli, Junagadh, Botad and Rajkot districts of Gujarat. The scope includes the design of L&T construction of 99 km bulk transmission MS pipeline, 10.5 ML RCC raw water sump L&T pumphouse and associated electro mechanical L&T instrumentation works.

Krsnaa Diagnostics lost 0.86%. The company, after the company informed that Shivananda Rao has resigned from the post of chief operating officer (COO) of the company. The company's COO has resigned due to personal reasons. The resignation is effective from closing of business hours on Monday, 14 March 2022.

Zydus Lifesciences fell 1.59%. The pharmaceutical major received the final approval from the US-based drug regulator, the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Colestipol Hydrochloride tablets (in the strength of 1mg). Colestipol hydrochloride tablets are indicated as adjunctive therapy to diet for the reduction of elevated serum total and LDL-C in patients with primary hypercholesterolemia (elevated LDL-C) who do not respond adequately to diet. Colestipol Hydrochloride is a highly complex macro molecule drug substance with little or no systemic absorption.

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