Sensex, Nifty pare gains; breadth positive

Key market barometers pared gains in mid-afternoon trade. The undertone of the market continued to be positive after the media reported that the government may ask State Bank of India (SBI) to lead a consortium that will buy stake in Yes Bank.

At 14:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 214.32 points or 0.56% at 38,623.80. The Nifty 50 index rose 68.65 points or 0.61% at 11,319.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.62% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.53%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1214 shares rose and 1099 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, the market breadth was positive with 37 stocks advancing and 13 stocks declining.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index fell 1.19% to 277.70, declining the most among the sectoral indices in the NSE.

Unitech (down 4.96%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (down 4.35%), Godrej Properties (down 2.74%), Oberoi Realty (down 2.26%), Parsvnath Developers (down 2.19%), Phoenix Mills (down 1.71%), Sunteck Realty (down 1.55%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (down 1.19%), Omaxe (down 1.13%), D B Realty (down 0.94%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 0.87%), DLF (down 0.47%), Sobha (down 0.33%) and Prestige Estates Projects (down 0.05%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NTPC rose 0.32% to Rs 108.35. The Government of India divested 30.87 crore equity shares, or 3.12% stake held in NTPC on 3 February 2020. It was an off market sale by the Government of India to Nippon Life India Asset Management India, the asset management company of the CPSE ETF mutual fund scheme. Post disinvestment, the Government of India holds 51.02% stake in NTPC from 54.14% held earlier.

Granules India rose 2.37% to Rs 176.8. the drug maker in a regulatory filing during market hours today (5 March) announced that the US Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) has approved the Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) filed by company's wholly owned foreign subsidiary, for Potassium Chloride extended-release tablets USP, of 600 mg and 750 mg.

The drug is bioequivalent of Klor-Con extended-release tablets of Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC. It is used for the treatment and prophylaxis of hypokalemia with or without metabolic alkalosis, in patients for whom dietary management with potassium-rich foods or diuretic dose reduction is insufficient. According to IQVIA Health, Klor-Con brand and generic had US sales of approximately $54 million MAT for the most recent twelve months ending in December 2019.

Bank of Baroda added 0.55% to Rs 73.70. Moody's Investors Service on 04 March 2020, has affirmed Bank of Baroda's domestic and foreign bank long term and short term deposit ratings of Baa3, stable/P-3. At the same time, Moody's has downgraded BoB's baseline credit assessment (BCA) and adjusted BCA to ba3 from ba2.

In addition, Moody's has downgraded BOB's long term and short term counterparty risk assessments to Baa3(cr)/P-3(cr) and the long term and short term domestic currency counterparty risk ratings (CRR) to Baa3/P-3 from Baa2(cr)/P-2(cr) and Baa2lP-2, respectively. Moody's has also assigned a long term and short term foreign currency CRR of Baa3/P-3 to BOB. The outlook is stable.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 73.35, compared with its previous closing low of 73.3975.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.256% at 14:23 IST compared with 6.226% in the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2020 settlement was up 24 cents to $51.37 a barrel. The contract fell 73 cents or 1.41% to settle at $51.13 a barrel in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 3 April 2020 settlement fell 0.44% to Rs 43378.

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