Indices firm up again; breadth positive

Key barometers firmed up once again in mid-morning trade with the Nifty regaining 9300 mark. At 11:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 93.86 points or 0.3% at 31,836.94. The Nifty 50 index was up 29.3 points or 0.32% at 9,311.60.

The broader market traded with gains. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.27% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.74%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1006 shares rose and 911 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, the breadth was even with 25 stocks advancing while 25 stocks declining.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty FMCG index declined 0.76% to 28,830.40 amid profit booking after yesterday's 1.45% gains.

Colgate Palmolive (down 2.67%), Nestle India (down 1.48%), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.47%), Britannia Industries (down 1.02%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.86%), Dabur (down 0.75%), Tata Consumer Products (down 0.64%), Emami (down 0.52%), Marico (down 0.37%) and ITC (down 0.19%) were top losers in FMCG segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Axis Bank jumped 3.48% after the private sector bank in an exchange filing announced that it has acquired 30% stake in Max Life Insurance from Max Financial Services for Rs 1600 crore. The bank said Max Financial Services presently holds a 72.5% stake in Max Life and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI) owns 25.5% stake. Axis Bank also has a minor stake in the life insurer. Shares of Max Financial Services were trading 2.62% higher at Rs 464.40. The bank will announce its Q4 March 2020 result today.

Jagran Prakashan's board approved allotment of 1,500 rated, secured, senior, listed, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) with face value of Rs 10 lakh each, at par, aggregating to Rs 150 crore on private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 27 April 2020. Jagran Prakashan was up 2.08%.

Global Markets:

Asian markets were trading mixed as oil prices continued to slip following an overnight plunge.

In US, stocks rose on Monday as investors cheered news that more countries and US states were looking to ease lockdowns and the Bank of Japan expanded its stimulus program, while the price of oil continued to crumble as storage runs out.

The outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting which concludes today would also be on investors' radar.

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