Indices pares losses; Sensex adds 119 pts; IT shares advance

The domestic benchmarks pared all the losses and traded with minor gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 17,850 mark after hitting the day's low of 17,779.80 in morning trade. Media, IT and PSU bank shares were in demand while metal, realty and pharma stocks slipped. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 119.2 points or 0.20% to 60,782.99. The Nifty 50 index added 18.35 points or 0.10% to 17,890.05.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.03% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.06%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,642 shares rose and 1,771 shares fell. A total of 151 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 7.341 from its close of 7.344 recorded in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.52, compared with its close of 82.545 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement advanced 0.12% to Rs 57,285.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.36% to 103.04.

The United States 10-year bond yield lost 0.80% to 3.607.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2023 settlement rose 24 cents or 0.28% to $85.33 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 0.59% to 30,955.05. The index gained 2.02% in two trading sessions.

L&T Technology Services (up 1.58%), Infosys (up 1.2%), Tata Consultancy Services (up 0.62%), HCL Technologies (up 0.42%), Mphasis (up 0.4%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.31%), Coforge (up 0.23%), Wipro (up 0.09%), Persistent Systems (up 0.08%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Godrej Agrovet advanced 2% after the Godrej group company reported 78.9% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 116.42 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 65.06 crore in Q3 FY22. Revenue from operations increased to Rs 2,323.5 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2022, registering a growth of 12% YoY.

MRF slipped 3.91%. The tyre maker's consolidated net profit rose 17.03% to Rs 174.83 crore on 14.72% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 5,644.55 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

CDSL fell 0.62%. Central Depository Services (India) (CDSL) on Thursday announced crossing another milestone of opening eight crore (80 million) plus active demat account. The company is currently the largest depository in the country in terms of active demat accounts.

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