Indices recover after weak opening

Local indices opened in the red but swiftly turned positive on select buying in index stocks. At 9:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 184.05 points or 0.52% at 35,819.00. The Nifty 50 index was up 40.80 points or 0.39% at 10,492.25.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.08%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.92%. Both these indices outperformed the BSE Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 705 shares rose and 414 shares fell. A total of 71 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in news:

Infosys fell 3.65%. Infosys announced that it has joined the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program to offer end-to-end solutions for smart stadiums, smart venues and smart event management. This program is designed to connect cities, municipalities, government agencies, and enterprises with Qualcomm Technologies' ecosystem to help deliver greater efficiencies, cost savings, and broad access to solutions for smart cities' problems today.

ABB India rose 1.27%. ABB India board approved the proposal to sell solar inverter business to Marici Solar India, for Rs 100.6 crore. In 2019 the solar inverter business had a turnover of Rs 664 crore which is approximately 9% of the total turnover of the company.

Wonderla Holidays slumped 3.15%. Wonderla Holidays said that the company has decided to temporarily close Kochi park from 11 March to 20 March, 2020 in view of the emerging situation in the State of Kerala, consequent to the reported coronavirus cases.

Narayana Hrudayalaya rose 0.24%. Narayana Hrudayalaya (NHL) informed that Karnataka Chinmaya Seva Trust has indicated its desire to operate Chinmaya Narayana Superspeciality Centre in Chinmaya Mission Hospital, Bangalore on its own and expressed its intent not to renew the contract on its expiry on 31 March 2020. NHL has agreed to the non-extension of the contract and the operations will be stopped from 1 April 2020.

Cadila Healthcare was up 1.66%. Zydus Cadila and XOMA Corporation announced agreement to advance an IL-2-based immuno-oncology (lO) drug candidate that combines Zydus' fL-2 with XOMA's novel anti-lL-2 monoclonal antibody.

Muthoot Finance was up 2.04%. Muthoot Finance will consider and approve fund raising on 17 March 2020.

Global Markets:

Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading lower on Wednesday as doubts regarding the US stimulus package dragged down equities and US stock futures.

In US, stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday after a volatile session that restored about half of the losses seen Monday when stocks saw the biggest one day fall since the 2008 financial crisis.

Tuesday's rebound was partly fuelled by a White House push to persuade Congress to agree to a fiscal stimulus package that may include a payroll tax cut to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.

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