Market trades with modest gains

The equity market barometers came off day's low and traded with modest gains in mid-afternoon. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 106.50 points or 0.26% at 40,927.80. The Nifty 50 index was up 37.90 points or 0.31% at 12,075.60.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.48%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.10%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1151 shares rose and 1252 shares fell. A total of 189 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 39 stocks advanced and 11 stocks declined.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 0.53% to 8,220.90. Alkem Laboratories (down 3.85%), Cipla (down 2.08%), Wockhardt (down 2.01%), IPCA Laboratories (down 1.34%), Cadila Healthcare (down 0.78%), Divi's Laboratories (down 0.25%) and Strides Shasun (down 0.14%) declined.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 2.14%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 1.35%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.29%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.03%), Lupin (up 0.29%), Piramal Enterprises (up 0.13%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.08%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Cheviot Co. jumped 10.52% to Rs 790 after the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved extension of norms for mandatory packaging in jute materials. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accorded its approval for mandatory packaging of foodgrains and sugar in jute material for the Jute Year 2019-2020. The decision of the Cabinet mandates that 100% of the food grains and 20% of the sugar shall be mandatorily packed in diversified jute bags.

RBL Bank rose 4.16% to Rs 361.90 after the media reported suggested that the bank is looking to raise about Rs 1,500 crore within a week through a mix of a preferential issue and a qualified institutional placement of equity shares.

CreditAccess Grameen (CAGL) advanced 2.99% to Rs 771.40 after the micro-finance company announced acquisition of Madura Micro Finance. The transaction provides CAGL access to a large and unique client base. It will also help CAGL in furthering its geographical diversification of portfolio. Further, it strengthens CAGL's leadership position in the microfinance market with a combined portfolio of Rs 9,958 crore, approximately 37 lakh borrowers and 1,300+ branches spread across 13 states and 1 union territory in India.

Numbers to track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.488% at 14:15 IST compared with 6.468% in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 71.34, compared with its close of 71.50 during the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for January 2020 settlement was down 3 cents at $64.24 a barrel. The contract rose 62 cents, or 0.97% to settle at $64.27 a barrel during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 December 2019 settlement fell 0.27% to Rs 37,618.

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