Benchmarks continue to trade near flat line; European mkt advance

key equity indices traded near the flat line with positive bias in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near the 21,850 mark. PSU bank, oil & gas and auto shares advanced while FMCG, healthcare and media stocks declined.

At 13:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 6.28 points or 0.01% to 71,816.55. The Nifty 50 index added 13.65 points or 0.06% to 21,853.70

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.91% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.20%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,346 shares rose and 1,449 shares fell. A total of 101 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Mahindra and Mahindra (up 6.98%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) (up 4.55%), Power Grid Corporation of India (up 4.03%), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (up 3.55%) and NTPC (up 2.68%) major Nifty gainers.

Axis Bank (down 1.72%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (down 1.51%), ITC (down 1.46%), Britannia Industries (down 1.44%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 1.31%) were major Nifty losers.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) slipped 1.31% after the company informed that it is looking to collaborate with Andhra Pradesh Government on palm oil production in the state, which is expected to create over 1,000 jobs.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals rose 0.72%. The company reported net loss of Rs 330.81 crore in Q3 FY24 as compared with net profit of Rs 290.76 crore in Q3 FY23. Revenue from operations declined 19.67% to Rs 2,460.29 crore in Q3 FY24 as compared with Rs 3,062.75 crore in Q3 FY23. The lower sales in the current quarter are mainly on account of a one‐time impact on the companys India business.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) fell 2.28% after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 107.60 crore in Q3 FY24 as compared with net profit of Rs 11.21 crore posted in Q3 FY23. Revenue from operations grew by 16.1% year on year to Rs 4,166.71 crore during the quarter.

NMDC jumped 4.63% after the companys standalone net profit (from continuing operations) surged 67.7% to Rs 1,492.68 crore in Q3 FY24 as against Rs 890.09 crore recorded in Q3 FY23. Revenue from operations climbed 45.43% year on year to Rs 5,409.90 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2023.

Global Markets:

European and Asian stocks advanced on Thursday after Wall Street resumed a rally as robust earnings helped overcome worries about persistent inflation.

GDP numbers from Japan showed that Asias second-largest economy had entered a technical recession. Provisional gross domestic product contracted 0.4% in the fourth quarter compared with a year ago, after a revised 3.3% slump in the July-September period.

US stocks rose on Wednesday as the robust earnings of big technology firms helped ease worries about persistent price pressure. Shares of ride-hailing platforms Lyft and Uber rallied, while Nvidia displaced Alphabet as the US stock market's third most valuable company.

US producer prices fell more than initially thought in December, revised government data showed on Wednesday. The producer price index for final demand dropped 0.2% in December instead of dipping 0.1% as previously reported, annual revisions of the PPI data published by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed.

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