Indices trade with modest gains; strong market breadth

The domestic equity barometers traded with decent gains in early trade, amid significant buying in index pivotals. The Nifty traded tad below the 17,300 level. Shares across sectors advanced, with autos, consumer durables, PSU banks, and financials stocks gaining the most.

At 09:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 285.59 points or 0.50% to 57,879.08. The Nifty 50 index added 75.65 points or 0.44% to 17,297.65.

SBI Life (up 2.32%), HDFC (up 1.79%), Bharti Airtel (up 1.45%), Asian Paints (up 1.38%) and Ultratech Cement (up 1.30%) were the top Nifty gainers.

Coal India (down 2.22%), ONGC (down 1.79%), Eicher Motors (down 0.60%), Hindalco (down 0.41%) and ITC (down 0.31%) were the top Nifty losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.77% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.69%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1739 shares rose and 740 shares fell. A total of 93 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Aurobindo Pharma fell 1.21% to Rs 698.30. The board of directors of the company has approved the acquisition of the business and certain assets of Veritaz Healthcare Limited (Veritaz). Veritaz operates in the pharmaceutical industry in India and sells branded generic formulations and other health care-related products.

Tata Power advanced 1.94% to Rs 244.20. The company has collaborated with Rustomjee Group, the leading real estate developer, to provide end-to-end EV charging solutions across all its residential and commercial projects in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Ruchi Soya declined 2.61% to Rs 793.75. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) provided an option to the investors in Ruchi Soya's Rs 4,300 crore follow-on public offer (FPO) to withdraw their applications. The withdrawal window will remain open till 30 March.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks rose, following a tumble in oil prices overnight. Oil prices slumped overnight on demand concerns arising from a new lockdown in Shanghai, diving more than 8%.

Wall Street stocks rose Monday on hopes over peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, while oil prices tumbled with worries over the hit of Covid-19 to Chinese energy demand.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv's negotiators were studying a Russian demand for Ukrainian neutrality. The comments came ahead of new face-to-face talks between Ukraine and Russia, set to start Tuesday in Turkey.

In Washington, President Joe Biden released an annual US$5.8 trillion (S$7.89 trillion) budget plan that would steer US$6.9 billion towards Ukraine to assist in defending against Russia's invasion, as well as to aid NATO.

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