Shares trade with decent gains; Asian markets edge higher

The domestic equity barometers traded with decent gains in mid-morning trade. The Nifty hovered around the 16,650 mark. Metal stocks extended gains for the fourth consecutive session.

At 11:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 155.42 points or 0.28% to 55,624.32. The Nifty 50 index added 41.25 points or 0.25% to 16,647.20.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.53% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.15%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2388 shares rose and 745 shares fell. A total of 122 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 1.45% to 6,225.75, extending gains for fourth day. The index has added 17.17% in four sessions.

Coal India (up 5.11%), Hindustan Copper (up 4.67%), Tata Steel (up 1.85%), Adani Enterprises (up 1.76%), Ratnamani Metals Tubes (up 1.59%), SAIL (up 1.75%), JSW Steel (up 1.19%), Welspun Corp (up 1.14%) and NMDC (up 1.06%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) was down 0.03% to Rs 710.05. 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.

Oriental Rail Infrastructure added 3.57% to Rs 114.50. 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.

Global Markets:

Shares in Asia-Pacific were trading higher on Thursday as U.S. stocks bounced back overnight. Oil prices, however, continued to move higher following a price surge in recent days.

A private survey released on Thursday showed slowing Chinese services activity growth in February. The Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers' Index stood at 50.2 in February, compared with January's reading of 51.4. The 50-point mark in PMI readings separates growth from contraction.

Investors continued monitoring movements in the oil market, with crude prices spiking to their highest level in years on Wednesday, amid Russia's escalating war on Ukraine. Meanwhile, the OPEC and its allies decided Wednesday to hold production steady despite the recent dramatic spike in oil prices.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2022 settlement rose $3.99 or 3.5% to currently trade at $116.92 a barrel.

U.S. equities advanced on Wednesday, as gains in the basic materials, financials and oil & gas sectors propelled shares higher.

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.

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