Nifty scales above 22,950; media shares witness bargain buying

The headline equity benchmarks traded near the flatline with some tiny gains in the mid-morning trade. The Nifty hovered above the 22,950 mark. Media shares advanced after declining in the past three trading sessions.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 105.44 points or 0.14% to 76,073.40. The Nifty 50 index rose 8.25 points or 0.04% to 22,953.55.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 1.01% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 2.14%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 2,742 shares rose and 954 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index added 1.55% to 1,495.45. The index declined 3.18% in the past three trading session.

Saregama India (up 4.93%), Tips Music (up 3.63%), Network 18 Media & Investments (up 3.07%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 1.92%), Den Networks (up 1.55%), Nazara Technologies (up 1.48%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 1.28%), Dish TV India (up 0.29%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Aurobindo Pharma slumped 3.37% after the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has issued five observations to Aurobindo Pharma stepdown subsidiary, Eugia Steriles facility in Andhra Pradesh.

Piramal Pharma advanced 2.73%. The US FDA issued a Form-483 with 6 observations to the companys Turbhe facility post a GMP inspection.

RPP Infra Projects rallied 4.76% after the company announced that it has received a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) for an Rs 62.78 crore project in Tamil Nadu awarded by the Superintending Engineer (N) C (M) P Office in Tirupur.

Global Markets:

Asian stock markets traded mixed on Wednesday as Japan reported a larger-than-expected trade deficit of 2.76 trillion yen ($1.8 billion) for the latest period, reversing a prior surplus and exceeding forecasts of a 2.10 trillion yen deficit. Improving domestic demand and a stronger yen sparked an outsized surge in imports, while export growth was also slightly underwhelmed.

Early Asian trading hours were marked by reports of potential 25% U.S. tariffs on automobile, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical imports, with a possible announcement in the coming as soon as April 2.

Investors are awaiting U.S. purchasing managers index (PMI) data for February, seeking further clarity on the U.S. economy's resilience amidst persistent inflation and trade-related uncertainties.

U.S. equities reached record highs on Tuesday, though gains were moderate ahead of Federal Reserve policy signals. The S&P 500 closed at a record high of 6,129.62, representing a 0.24% increase. The NASDAQ Composite rose marginally by 0.07% to 20,041.26. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained relatively unchanged at 44,556.16.

In Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and Russia engaged in preliminary talks, with the U.S. seeking to gauge Russia's sincerity regarding a peace settlement in Ukraine.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the minutes of its recent policy meeting, which will be closely scrutinized for insights into the central bank's interest rate strategy, particularly following signals of a prolonged pause in rate reductions. Investor focus is on what the feds minutes may reveal about rate intentions.

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