Sensex up 148 pts, Nifty above 17,370; breadth turns negative

The key equity indices were trading near the day's high in afternoon trade. The Nifty held firmly above the 17,350 mark. Autos, metals and oil & gas stocks supported the indices while banks stocks dragged. Negative global cues capped strong gains.

At 13:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 147.89 points or 0.25% to 58,144.57. The Nifty 50 index added 52.20 points or 0.3% to 17,374.40.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.30% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.01%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1591 shares rose and 1671 shares fell. A total of 124 shares were unchanged.

Tata Consumer Products (up 2.42%), HDFC (up 2.33%), ONGC (up 1.81%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.66%) and Reliance Industries (up 1.63%) were top Nifty gainers.

ICICI Bank (down 1.28%), UltraTech Cement (down 1.28%), Axis Bank (down 1.11%), TCS (down 0.61%) and IndusInd Bank (down 0.53%) were major Nifty losers.

Nestle India was almost flat at Rs 18,237.10. The FMCG major's net profit fell 20% to Rs 386.66 crore on 8.45% increase in net sales to Rs 3,706.20 crore in Q4 December 2021 over Q4 December 2020. The company's profit before exceptional items and tax rose 10.97% to Rs 743.68 crore in Q4 December 2021 over Q4 December 2020. The company reported an exceptional expense of Rs 236.50 crore in Q4 December 2021. Total sales and domestic sales for the quarter increased by 8.4% and 9.2% respectively. Domestic sales growth is broad based and largely driven by volume & mix. Export sales were lower by 6.6% largely due to change in product mix. The board has recommended a final dividend for 2021 of Rs 65 per equity share.

Economy:

The government has approved the continuation of the Capacity Development (CD) Scheme till 31st of March, 2026. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in a statement said that the outlay approved for the continuation of the Scheme during 15th Finance Commission cycle is Rs 3,179 crore.

The Capacity Development Scheme is an Ongoing Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry with an overall objective to augment infrastructural, technical as well as manpower resources for enabling availability of credible and timely official statistics.

The Scheme encompasses all statistical and data management activities of the Ministry and plays a crucial role in generation and maintenance of official statistical system of the country.

The large-scale sample surveys undertaken by the Ministry cover important aspects of the economy and provide data inputs for policy framing of the Government.

Global Cues:

The Dow Jones index futures were down 70 points, indicating a negative opening in the US stocks today.

Asian stocks were mixed as concerns surrounding Ukraine resurfaced. Investors were also worried about rising interest rates globally amid broadening inflationary pressures.

Japan's January exports came in far below expectations, with official data released on Thursday showing a 9.6% year-on-year rise for that month.

NATO on Wednesday accused Russia of increasing the number of troops it has gathered at the Ukrainian border, a day after Moscow claimed it had begun withdrawing some of its military units.

According to the media reports, a senior Biden administration official said on Wednesday the United States does not believe Russia's claim to be withdrawing troops from the Ukraine border and suspects Moscow has increased its presence by as many as 7,000 troops.

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