Sensex, Nifty trade with decent gains

Key barometers traded with decent gains in mid-morning trade. Sentiment continued to be fragile after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a total lockdown in the country for 21 days to curb coronavirus spread. The Nifty continued to trade above the decisive 7800 mark.

At 11:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 193.78 points or 0.73% at 26,867.81. The Nifty 50 index was up 44.4 points or 0.57% at 7,845.55.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.22% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.27%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 670 shares rose and 1086 shares fell. A total of 100 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, the breadth was positive with 29 stocks advancing and 21 stocks declining.

Global Markets:

Asian stock markets extended early gains on Wednesday, following dramatic gains overnight on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, the media reported that the White House and Senate leaders reached a deal early Wednesday on a massive $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill to combat the economic impact of the outbreak. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin agreed to enhanced oversight of a $500 billion bailout fund that Democrats had criticized, reports added.

In US, markets on soared Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching its biggest one-day point gain ever and its best percentage gain since 1933, a day after plumbing the lowest levels since 2016, amid growing optimism for a fiscal stimulus package aimed at combating the economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index gained 1.66% to 4,771.15, extending its winning run to second consecutive session. It was the top performing sectoral index on NSE.

Maruti Suzuki (up 7.39%), Motherson Sumi (up 4.3%), Amara Raja Batteries (up 4.04%), MRF (up 1.55%), Bosch (up 1.3%), Eicher Motors (up 0.48%) and Tata Motors (up 0.36%) were top gainers in Nifty Auto index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) on Tuesday (24 March 2020) announced the acquisition of a transmission asset, East North Interconnection Company, from Sterlite Power at a value of $134 million. With this acquisition, IndiGrid's assets under management (AUM) will increase by 10% to about $1.6 billion. IndiGrid's asset portfolio will increase to nine power transmission projects, with a total network of 20 power transmission lines spanning across more than 5,800 circuit kilometres across 13 Indian states. Shares of India Grid Trust were trading 2.2% lower at Rs 86.99.

Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals said it has taken up the project for expansion of 16,500 tonnes per annum (TPA) of Anhydrous Aluminium Chloride (AAC) plant at Dahej with total project cost of Rs 35 crore. The commercial production at the said AAC plant at Dahej has been achieved on 23 March 2020. The estimated increase in annual revenue of the company from this plant would be about Rs 65 crore. With this expansion, the total capacity of the AAC plant at Dahej will be 42,420 TPA. Shares of Gujarat Alkalies were trading 1.4% higher at Rs 206.

IRCON International rose 1.4% to Rs 304.1 after the company fixed 7 April 2020 as the record date for stock split. The company will split one equity share of face value Rs 10 each into five equity shares of face value Rs 2 each (5-for-1). The announcement after market hours yesterday, 24 March 2020.

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