Shares end with limited losses; auto stocks tumble

The domestic equity barometers ended with modest losses on Thursday. The Nifty closed a tad below the 16,500 mark. While autos, banks and financials declined, oil & gas, IT and metal stocks were in demand. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 366.22 points or 0.66% to 55,102.68. The Nifty 50 index shed 107.90 points or 0.65% to 16,498.05.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.64% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.35%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,038 shares rose and 1,282 shares fell. A total of 120 shares were unchanged.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2022 settlement rose $3.52 or 3.12% to currently trade at $116.45 a barrel. Crude oil prices surged after the OPEC and its allies on Wednesday decided to hold production steady despite the recent dramatic spike in oil prices. Higher crude oil prices could increase India's fiscal deficit, current account deficit and stoke fuel price inflation.

India's merchandise export in February 2022 was $33.81 billion, an increase of 22.36% over $27.63 billion in February 2021 and an increase of 21.88% over $27.74 billion in February 2020. Meanwhile, India's merchandise import in February 2022 was $55.01 billion, an increase of 34.99% over $40.75 billion in February 2021 and an increase of 45.12% over $37.90 billion in February 2020.

Global Markets:

Europe markets fell across the board while most Asian shares advanced on Thursday. Meanwhile, tensions remained high over the Russia-Ukraine crisis, with oil and material prices continuing to spike.

Ukraine's second biggest city, Kharkiv, suffered heavy bombardment on Wednesday, while Kherson's mayor said Russian forces have seized control of the key port city in southern Ukraine. If confirmed, it marks a military victory for Russia.

In U.S., Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell backed a quarter-point interest-rate hike this month to commence a series of increases and didn't rule out a larger move at some stage, despite uncertainty caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index fell 2.24% to 10,264.90. The index has lost 5.79% in three sessions.

Ashok Leyland (down 6.23%), Eicher Motors (down 3.87%), Bharat Forge (down 2.67%), Bajaj Auto (down 2.24%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 2.16%), TVS Motor Company (down 2.06%) and Tata Motors (down 2.06%) declined.

Maruti Suzuki India lost 2.49% to Rs 7,619.30. The company said its production witnessed a marginal increase last month. In a filing, the auto major reported total production of 1,69,692 units in February, compared to 1,68,180 units in the same month last year. "The shortage of electronic components had a minor impact on the production of vehicles during the month," it added.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 1.06% to Rs 2,373. Reliance Strategic Business Ventures (RSBVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, announced a joint venture with Sanmina Corporation (Sanmina) for electronic manufacturing in India. RSBVL will hold 50.1% equity stake in the joint venture entity with Sanmina owning the remaining 49.9%.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) shed 0.45% to Rs 707.10. The company during the month of February 2022, handled cargo volume of 24.15 million metric tonnes (MMT), registering a growth of 14.4% on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis.

Vedanta added 2.29% to Rs 396.55. The mining major has declared a third interim dividend for the fiscal year 2021-22 of Rs 13 per equity share. The record date for the purpose of payment of the dividend is 10 March 2022.

UPL added 4% to Rs 717.10. The agri-chemicals major has announced its board has approved the proposal to buy back fully paid-up equity shares from shareholders (other than the promoters, the promoters group, and persons in control of the company), for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 1,100 crore, the maximum buyback size. The company's board has proposed a share buyback plan at Rs 875 per share.

Supreme Industries added 0.33% to Rs 2,023.45. The company said that it has received letter of intent (LoI) for supply of 7,35,186 units of 10 kilogram (KG) capacity composite LPG cylinders valuing about Rs 170 crore from Indian Oil Corporation. The company expects to execute entire quantity of this order over a period of 12 months.

Hind Rectifiers hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 189.25. The company has secured orders of Rs. 57.32 crore in the month of February 2022.

Oriental Rail Infrastructure added 1.36% to Rs 112.05. The company secured orders worth Rs 26.97 crore from Rail Coach Factory (Hussainpur), Kapurthala (Punjab) for manufacturing and supplying seats and berths to Indian Railways.

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