Indices trade with modest gains; auto shares gear up

The key domestic indices traded with moderate gains in the afternoon trade, as concerns over the US government shutdown eased and investors awaited the outcome of the US Fed policy review later this week. The Nifty traded a tad above the 22,500 level. Auto shares advanced after declining in the past trading session.

At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 344.42 points or 0.47% to 74,173.33. The Nifty 50 index added 105.65 points or 0.47% to 22,502.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 0.71% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.16%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,677 shares rose and 2,382 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rose to 2.38% (provisional) in February, 2025, primarily due to an increase in prices of manufactured food products, food articles, other manufacturing, non-food articles, and textiles, etc. Data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed on Monday. This is higher than the WPI rate in January, which stood at 2.31%.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index rose 0.92% to 20,743.50. The index fell 1.10% in the past trading session.

Bharat Forge (up 3.31%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.27%), TVS Motor Company (up 1.35%), Balkrishna Industries (up 1.26%), Eicher Motors (up 0.94%), Tata Motors (up 0.85%), Ashok Leyland (up 0.82%), Exide Industries (up 0.42%), MRF (up 0.38%) advanced.

On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp (down 0.99%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.57%) and Samvardhana Motherson International (down 0.47%) edged lower.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper advanced 1.60% to 6.802 as compared with the previous close of 6.690.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 86.8400, compared with its close of 87.0550 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for the 4 April 2025 settlement were down 0.21% to Rs 87,810.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.01% to 103.71.

The United States 10-year bond yield shed 0.23% to 4.298.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2025 settlement shed 53 cents or 0.75% to $71.11 a barrel.

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