Market drifts higher in early trade, breadth positive

The headline equity indices were trading with minor gains in early trade. The Nifty traded above the 17,850 mark. Metal, FMCG and healthcare stocks advanced while bank and consumer durables shares corrected.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 114.98 points or 0.19% to 60,806.52. The Nifty 50 index gained 52.70 points or 0.30% to 17,897.30.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.27% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.08%

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,527 shares rose and 1,057 shares fell. A total of 163 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 158.95 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 86.23 crore in the Indian equity market on 20 February, provisional data showed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) added 0.49%. BPCL said that it has planned to raise upto Rs 1,500 crore unsecured non-convertible debentures (NCDs) through private placement, subject to market conditions.

Asian Paints shed 0.09%. Asian Paints (Polymers), wholly owned subsidiary of the company, has, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Gujarat to set up the manufacturing facility for Vinyl Acetate Ethylene Emulsion (VAE) and Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) at Dahej, Gujarat.

BEML rose 1.56%. BEML has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) led SPV, who have been shortlisted for constructing the Bahrain Metro Rail Project Phase-1.

NHPC fell 0.13%. The power generation company said that it has raised Rs 996 crore through Unsecured, Redeemable, Non-convertible, Non-cumulative and Taxable 7.59% AD series bonds on Private placement basis.

G R Infraprojects rose 0.98%. The company announced that it has emerged as lowest (L‐1) bidder for two projects floated by National Highways Logistics Management.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks traded mixed on Tuesday as investors await regional private surveys for factory activity. Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's February meeting, when it hiked its cash rate by 25 basis points, showed a pause in its hikes was not an option.

The au Jibun Bank Flash Japan Manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell further into contraction territory to 47.4 in February, after recording 48.9 in January, a release showed. Meanwhile a stronger service sector growth was seen in the economy, with a reading of 53.6 in February, a rise from 52.3 seen in January.

US markets were closed on Monday due to Presidents' day holiday

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