Nifty above 22,100 level; pharma shares rises

The key equity barometers continued to trade with moderate gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 22,100 level after hitting the days low of 21,917.50 in early trade. Pharma shares saw profit booking after declining in the past two trading sessions.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 300.26 points or 0.42% to 73,069.72. The Nifty 50 index added 124.10 points or 0.56% to 22,121.80.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1.56% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index surged 2.85%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,692 shares rose and 1,155 shares fell. A total of 94 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Global ratings agency Fitch Ratings raised India's FY25 GDP growth forecast to 7%from 6.5% earlier as it expects the economy to continue its strong expansion.

The rating agency said that it expects 50 bps rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India from July to December and foresees India's CPI inflation gradually declining to 4% by the end of 2024.

"Prospects for emerging markets, excluding China, have also brightened, particularly in India, where we now expect growth to reach 7.8% in the fiscal year ending March 2024 (FY24) and 7% in FY25, the report said.

With GDP growth having exceeded 8% for three consecutive quarters, we expect an easing in growth momentum in the final quarter of the current fiscal year, implying an estimate of 7.8% for growth in FY24, it added.

Meanwhile, Data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry showed that India's wholesale price inflation eased further to a four-month low of 0.20% in February on an annual basis, as against 0.27% in January.

The sequential WPI rate for February grew 0.07% against a contraction of (-) 0.33% in the month before.

Positive rate of inflation in February, 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, electricity, machinery & equipment and motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers etc.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index gained 0.77% to 18,779.15. The index slipped 2.94% in the past two trading sessions.

Natco Pharma (up 5.31%), Ipca Laboratories (up 4.5%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 3.66%), Gland Pharma (up 3.51%), Biocon (up 2.95%), Zydus Lifesciences (up 2.35%), Granules India (up 2.33%), Abbott India (up 2.19%), Lupin (up 2.05%) and Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals (up 1.75%) advanced.

On the other hand, Sanofi India (down 0.71%), Dr Reddys Laboratories (down 0.59%) and Divis Laboratories (down 0.22%) edged lower.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.06% to 7.043 as compared with previous close 7.039.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee is edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.8475, compared with its close of 82.8100 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2024 settlement fell 0.23% to Rs 65,747.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was rose 0.08% to 102.88.

The United States 10-year bond yield grew by 0.31% to 4.205.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2024 settlement added 35 cents or 0.42% to $84.38 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

PC Jeweller hit an upper limit of 5% after State Bank of India approved the jeweller's one-time debt settlement plan.

IIFL finance declined 2.33%. The non banking financial company (NBFC) announced that its board has approved the proposal of raising funds for an amount not exceeding Rs 1,500 crore by way of issue of equity shares on a right basis.

Antony Waste Handling Cell jumped 4.66% after the companys subsidiary Antony Lara Enviro Solutions has been awarded contract for bio-mining approximately 8.6 lakh tonnes of legacy waste by CIDCO.

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