Indices trade sideways with gains

Benchmark indices traded sideways with strong gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near the 17,400 mark. Barring the Nifty PSU Bank index, all sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the green.

At 13:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 473.26 points or 0.82% to 58,282.84. The Nifty 50 index added 144.15 points or 0.83% to 17,410.90.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.89% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.20%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1606 shares rose and 1663 shares fell. A total of 115 shares were unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) started its two-day meet on Tuesday, 8 February 2022. The RBI's MPC will announce its interest rate decision on 10 February 2022.

COVID-19 Update:

India added 71,365 new cases in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate stood at 4.54%. The country's active caseload currently stood at 8,92,828.

Gainers & Losers:

Coal India (up 4.6%), Maruti Suzuki (up 3.15%), IndusInd Bank (up 3.02%), Indian Oil Corp (up 2.68%) and Bajaj Auto (up 2.46%) were top gainers in Nifty 50 index.

ONGC (down 1.65%), ITC (down 0.65%), Tata Steel (down 0.57%) and PowerGrid Corp of India (down 0.43%) were top losers in Nifty 50 index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) fell 2.14% after the company's standalone net profit from continuing operations declined 23% to Rs 1,714 crore despite 37% increase in net revenue to Rs 11,955 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21. The decline in profitability was due to lower operating profit and higher tax expense partially offset by lower finance costs. EBITDA in Q3 FY22 was Rs 3,168 crore (down 19% YoY) as impact of higher realisations was more than offset by sharp rise in raw material cost, lower steel and pellet sales. During Q3FY22, JSPL reported steel sales (incl. pig iron) of 1.82 million tonnes, which were lower than production of 1.96 million tonnes due to logistical challenges encountered earlier and subdued domestic demand.

Mahanagar Gas declined 4.44% to Rs 791.35 after the company reported a 74% fall in net profit to Rs 56.79 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 217.2 crore posted in Q3 FY21. Net sales for Q3 FY22 grew by 54.2% to Rs 1,027.8 crore from Rs 666.4 crore registered in Q3 FY21. Profit before tax slipped 74.2% to Rs 75.18 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21. EBITDA declined 65.8% to Rs 103 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 301.7 crore registered in Q3 FY21. EBITDA margin deteriorated to 10.03% in Q3 FY22 from 36.35% posted in the same quarter last year.

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