Indices make a positive start; breadth strong

The domestic indices drifted higher in early trade on buying demand in oil & gas, financial services and auto stocks.

At 9:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 62.84 points or 0.11% at 58,204.89. The Nifty 50 index gained 28.15 points or 0.16% at 17,380.60.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.68% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 1%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,007 shares rose and 563 shares fell. A total of 77 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 2,298.76 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 4,411.60 crore in the Indian equity market on 15 February 2022, provisional data showed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tech Mahindra rose 0.83%. The wholly owned subsidiary of the company viz., Tech Mahindra (Singapore) Pte. has approved the proposal to acquire 80% equity shares in Australian artificial intelligence firm, Geomatic.ai Pty for a consideration of A$6 million. Geomatic.ai Pty is a company incorporated under Australian laws on 7 February 2022 and operates in the field of energy and utilities.

Burger King India gained 1.40%. The company has closed its qualified institutional placement issue and finalised the issue price at Rs 129.25 per share, a discount of 5% to the floor price of Rs 136.05 per share.

Torrent Power added 0.13%. The company has completed transaction of acquisition of 100% equity share capital of Visual Percept Solar Projects.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks are trading higher on Wednesday, as investors react to China's inflation data. Meanwhile, tensions appeared to ease between Russia and Ukraine, boosting markets.

China's consumer price index for January rose 0.9% as compared with a year ago, slightly lower than expectations. Chinese producer inflation for January was also below expectations. The producer price index for January rose 9.1% as compared with a year earlier.

Wall Street ended sharply higher on Tuesday, as signs of de-escalating tensions along the Russia-Ukraine border sparked a risk-on session.

Russia's government announced Tuesday that Moscow is starting to return some troops at the Ukrainian border, though NATO's chief warned that the military alliance has so far "not seen any sign of de-escalation on the ground from the Russian side."

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