Sensex above 50,000 mark; breadth strong

The S&P BSE Sensex was trading firm in afternoon trade. The index once again crossed the 50,000 mark. Trading has been halted on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) due to technical glitches.

At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 269.27 points or 0.54% at 50,020.68.

The broader market was trading higher. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.37%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.82%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1,728 shares rose and 1,080 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

NSE Update:

Trading has been halted on NSE due to technical glitches. In a tweet, NSE India on Wednesday notified: "NSE has multiple telecom links with two service providers to ensure redundancy. We have received communication from both the telecom service providers that there are issues with their links due to which there is an impact on NSE system."

"We are working on restoring the systems as soon as possible. In view of the above, all the segments have been closed at 11:40 and will be restored as soon as issue is resolved," it added.

Meanwhile, BSE announced that all its segments will operate as usual on Wednesday, 24 February 2021.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 11,21,08,217 with 24,85,434 deaths. India reported 1,46,907 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,56,567 deaths while 1,07,26,702 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Gainers & Losers:

Bajaj Finance (up 1.93%), Axis Bank (up 1.82%), HDFC Bank (up 1.80%), State Bank of India (SBI) (up 1.64%) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) (up 1.57%) were major gainers on S&P BSE Sensex.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (down 1.26%), NTPC (down 0.87%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.87%), PowerGrid Corporation of India (down 0.73%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 0.60%) were major losers on S&P BSE Sensex.

Stocks in Spotlight:

United Spirits (USL) fell 0.44%. On Tuesday, the company said that it is initiating a strategic review of selected popular brands, continuing the strategy towards long-term profitable growth through premiumising the company's portfolio. USL's popular portfolio comprises around 30 brands and the strategic review will focus on approximately half of this portfolio by volume. This review will not include the McDowell's or Director's Special trademarks. The strategic review is expected to be completed by the end of the 2021 calendar year.

Granules India gained 1.43% after the company said that US drug regulator has approved its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Acetaminophen, Aspirin and Caffeine Tablets USP, 250 mg/250 mg/65 mg (OTC). The product is bioequivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD), Excedrin migraine tablets, 250 mg/250 mg/65 mg, of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. The drug is indicated for treating migraine. The product will be manufactured at the company's Hyderabad facility and is expected to be launched shortly.

Global Markets:

Most European stocks were trading higher on Wednesday as investors digest remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday, as he attempted to ease some worries around higher interest rates and inflation.

Asian stocks declined across the board on Wednesday as investors turned cautious, despite Powell's statements.

Wall Street reversed course late Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow whipsawing to positive territory by the closing bell in a tug-of-war between stocks that thrived amid lockdowns and those that stand to benefit most from a reopening economy.

Powell indicated that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was nowhere close to pulling back on its support from the economy as it will still take sometime for it to achieve the employment and inflation goals. He added that inflation is still 'soft' and that the Fed is committed to current policy.

The Conference Board released a report showing consumer confidence has improved more than expected in the month of February. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to 91.3 in February from a downwardly revised 88.9 in January.

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