Nifty scales 18K; auto stocks zoom

Indices traded at the day's high with modest gains in mid morning trade. The Nifty scaled a fresh all time high of 18,020.15 in intraday trade. Major buying was seen in auto, banks and metal stocks while IT shares corrected.

At 11:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was at 60,370.60, up 311.54 points or 0.52% at 60,370.60. The Nifty 50 index was up 114.25 points or 0.64% at 18,009.45.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.75% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.09%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 2063 shares rose and 1163 shares fell. A total of 180 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 237,878,939 with 4,851,945 deaths. India reported 227,347 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 450,782 deaths according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

In last 24 hours, India recorded 18,132 new cases. The recovery rate currently stands at 98.00%, highest since March 2020. There were 21,563 recoveries in the last 24 hours taking the total recoveries to 3,32,93,478

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index gained 2.51% to 11,357.20, rising for third trading session in a row. The auto index added 7.4% in three trading days.

Tata Motors (up 7.51%), Motherson Sumi Systems (up 3.54%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 3.14%), Bosch (up 2.6%) and Eicher Motors (up 2.03%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.96%), Balkrishna Industries (up 1.72%), MRF (up 1.46%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.45%) and Escorts (up 0.6%) were top gainers in auto space.

Stocks in Spotlight:

JSW Steel rose 1.22% to Rs 674.10 after the company reported group combined crude steel production at 5.07 million tonnes for Q2 FY22, up by 29% from 3.92 million tonnes recorded in Q2 FY21. On a sequential basis, the growth in crude steel production has, however, remained flat.

The crude steel production includes the production at jointly controlled entities viz. Bhushan Power & Steel (BPSL) and JSW Ispat Special Products (JISPL). JSW Steel said that the capacity utilization at standalone level was at 91% in Q2 FY22.

Jubilant Ingrevia rose 0.14%. The company said that it will acquire of 26.60% stake in AMP Energy Green Fifteen for Rs 5.11 crore for putting up the solar power plant with capacity of 15.5 MW under captive scheme. The acquisition will help the company to meet the green energy needs and optimize energy cost and to comply with the regulatory requirement for captive power consumption under the electricity laws. It is expected to be completed in six months.

Global Markets:

Most Asian stocks advanced on Monday as stocks in Hong Kong led gains regionally. Mainland Chinese stocks were also higher. Travel stocks in Singapore surged after Singapore authorities announced over the weekend that more "vaccinated travel lanes" are set to open with 8 more countries. Markets in South Korea are closed on Monday for a holiday.

US stock indexes ended lower Friday with technology stocks under pressure as bond yields rose after a monthly report on the labor market came in much weaker than expected.

The Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report showed the US economy in September created the fewest jobs in nine months as hiring dropped at schools and some businesses were short of workers. The report said non-farm payroll employment rose by 194,000 jobs in September after climbing by an upwardly revised 366,000 jobs in August.

Despite the much weaker than expected job growth, the unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in September from 5.2% in August.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News