Nifty near 18,100; Tech Mahindra spurts over 5%

The domestic equity barometers traded with decent gains in the afternoon amid positive global cues. The Nifty traded near the 18,100 level. All the sectoral indices on the NSE were in the green with IT, realty and metal shares gaining the most

At 13:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 280.34 points or 0.46% to 61,555.43. The Nifty 50 index added 83.40 points or 0.46% to 18,099.25.

The broader market outperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.01% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.96%

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,958 shares rose and 1,409 shares fell. A total of 166 shares were unchanged.

The overall gains remained capped as higher-than-estimated January US retail sales data further flamed concerns about further interest rate hikes by the Fed. US retail sales rose to 3% in January 2023 after two consecutive monthly declines, due to a rise in motor vehicle purchases. The number is the highest since the 4.9% revised jump for January 2022.

Economy:

India's trade deficit narrowed in January as imports fell at a faster rate than exports. The trade deficit narrowed to $17.75 billion in January, compared with $23.76 billion in December 2022.

India's exports in January dipped by 6.58% to $32.91 billion, as against $35.23 billion in the same month last year. Imports in January also declined by 3.63% to $50.66 billion, as against $52.57 billion in the same month last year.

Engineering exports dipped by 3.37% to $88.27 billion during April-January 2022-23. In the same period, gems and jewellery shipments declined by 0.54% to $31.61 billion. Gold imports during April-January this fiscal declined by 11.26% to $29 billion, as against $40.35 billion in the same period last year.

Gainers & Losers:

Tech Mahindra (up 5.85%), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (up 4.14%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (up 3.61%), Nestle India (up 2.60%) and Adani Enterprises (up 2.41%) were major Nifty gainers.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) (down 1.78%), Eicher Motors (down 0.79%), Hindustan Unilever (down 0.72%), Bajaj Finance (HDFC) (down 0.72%) and SBI Life Insurance Company (down 0.57%) were top Nifty losers.

Nestle India advanced 2.60% after the FMCG major reported 65.5% jump in net profit to Rs 628.06 crore on 13.58% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 4,256.79 crore in Q4 CY22 over Q4 CY21.

Total sales increased 13.96% year on year to Rs 4,233.27 crore in Q4 CY22 against Q4 CY21. Domestic sales and export sales for the quarter ended December 2022 rose by 13.83% and 17.07% respectively. Domestic sales growth was broad based.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NTPC rose 0.54%. The state-run power major said that it declared commercial operation of third part capacity of 50 megawatt (MW) out of 300 MW Nokhra Solar PV project at Bikaner, Rajasthan.

Vedanta advanced 0.69%. The company was declared the preferred bidder for Sijimali Bauxite Block, located in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha, under the mineral block auction conducted by the Odisha government. The block has estimated reserves of 311 million tonnes of bauxite.

Global markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia were trading higher on Thursday as investors digested Japan's record trade deficit of $26 billion. Investors also digested a stronger than expected US retail sales report from Wall Street.

US stocks ended higher on Wednesday after stronger-than-expected retail sales data offered evidence of resilience in the U.S. economy, but gains were capped as investors worried about more interest rate hikes by Federal Reserve in the months ahead.

US retail sales increased by the most in nearly two years in January after two straight monthly declines. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that retail sales surged 3% percent last month, the largest increase since March 2021, after declining by an unrevised 1.1% in December.

Production at US factories rebounded in January. Manufacturing output increased 1% last month, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. Data for December was revised down to show production at factories declining 1.8% instead of the previously reported 1.3%.

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