Market open on firm note, breadth strong

The key equity indices were trading with modest gains in the early trade on buying demand in index pivotals. The Nifty traded a tad above the 17,560 level. Financial services, auto and private bank shares advanced while media, IT and PSU bank stocks declined.

At 09:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 249.56 points or 0.42% to 59,210.16 . The Nifty 50 index gained 74.40 points or 0.43% to 17,561.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.54% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.44%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,852 shares rose and 756 shares fell. A total of 119 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 153.40 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,084.71 crore in the Indian equity market on 18 October, provisional data showed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

L&T Technology Services (LTTS) declined 2.29%. The company reported 3% rise in consolidated net income to Rs 282.4 crore on 6.5% increase in revenue to Rs 1995.1 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q1 FY23.

Adani Enterprises added 0.26%. Adani Enterprises said that Adani Defence Systems & Technologies (ADSTL) has signed definitive agreements to acquire Air Works, India's biggest and highly diversified independent MRO with the largest pan-India network presence across 27 cities.

Bharat Electronics (BEL) rose 1.42% after the company said that it has signed an MoU with Munitions India Limited (MIL), a Defence PSU, to jointly address the requirements of Indian Defence and Export markets in the areas of Ammunition, Explosives and related systems.

Praj Industries gained 1.24%. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 48.13 crore for Q2FY23, as compared to Rs 33.34 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. Total income for the quarter ended 30 September 2022 stood at Rs 882.74 crore, as compared to Rs 539 crore in the same period last year.

Polycab India rose 0.77%. The board of directors considered and approved the Amalgamation of Silvan Innovation Labs Private Limited (Wholly-owned Subsidiary) with Polycab India. Silvan is in the business of Internet of Things (IoT) based home automation and office automation solutions for expanding the potential addressable market in FMEG space in line with strategy to address evolving consumer needs through innovative solutions.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks are trading mixed on Wednesday as traders assessed a solid start to the corporate-earnings season that helped extend a rally in US markets.

Wall Street stocks closed higher and Treasury yields dipped on Tuesday as upbeat earnings and better-than-expected factory data stoked a risk-on rally.

Production at US factories spiked in September. Manufacturing output rose 0.4% last month, keeping pace with an upwardly revised 0.4% gain in August, the Federal Reserve said on Tuesday. Output increased 4.7% from a year earlier.

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