Nifty trades near 17,000 level; IT stocks in demand

The benchmark indices turned range bound during mid-morning trade. IT, auto and FMCG scrips supported the benchmarks while metal, oil & gas and pharma stocks dragged. The Nifty was trading near the 17,000 level.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 419.18 points or 0.74% at 56,825.02. The Nifty 50 index gained 117.05 points or 0.69% at 16,959.85.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 4.84% to 21.87.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.38%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,145 shares rose and 2,041 shares fell. A total of 99 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 4,253.70 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,170.29 crore in the Indian equity market on 14 February 2022, provisional data showed.

Economy:

India's retail inflation jumped to 6.01% in January 2022 compared to 5.56% in December 2021. As per the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation data, rate based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation in food and beverages rose to 5.58% compared to 4.5% in December. However, on a month-on-month basis, retail inflation fell by 0.3%.

The inflation print for January 2022 is along expected lines, with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das saying earlier that it was likely to come in around the 6% mark.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 1.22% to 34,295.50. The index lost 4.13% in the past two trading sessions.

Infosys (up 1.88%), MindTree (up 1.86%), Wipro (up 1.69%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.57%) and Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) (up 1.42%) were the top gainers in the IT segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.97%. The company said that Jio Platforms will invest $200 million in Glance, an AI-driven lock-screen platform. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Jio Platforms (Jio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has built an all-IP data strong future proof network with latest 4G LTE technology (through its wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm).

The proposed investment by Jio is aimed at accelerating Glance's launch in several key international markets outside of Asia such as the USA, Brazil, Mexico and Russia. The company is aiming to create the world's largest live content and commerce ecosystem on the lock screen and will use the funds raised to expand globally.

One 97 Communications (Paytm) slipped 1.60%. The company said that it had disbursed 1.9 million loans through its platform in January 2022, up 331% Y-o-Y (year-on-year). The value of the loans disbursed was Rs 921 crore, an increase of 334% Y-o-Y. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) processed through the Paytm platform during January 2022 aggregated to approximately Rs 83,481 crore, up 105% Y-o-Y.

"The business saw increased adoption of our lending products, despite some temporary impact of Omicron over a short period of time on merchant lending disbursal volumes," the company said in a statement. Average monthly transacting users (MTU) in January 2022 were 68.9 million, growth of 40% Y-o-Y. The company deployed over 2.3 million devices across the country as of the end of January 2022. It had deployed 0.7 million devices in the same period last year.

Global Markets:

Most Asian stocks declined on Tuesday as investors in the region continued to monitor tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Japan's economy expanded 5.4% on an annualized basis in the final quarter of 2021, according to government data released on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 retreated on Monday as investors evaluated concerns about the Federal Reserve's plan for interest rate hikes and tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Global markets have been kept on edge amid fears of a Russian attack on Ukraine, with the U.S. closing its embassy in Kyiv. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces on Ukraine's border.

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