Key equity indices pared most of the early gains in morning trade. The Nifty held above the 14,750 mark. Capital goods stocks advanced for the second day. Bank and financials, however, witnessed significant volatility ahead of Supreme Court hearing today on the moratorium case.
At 10:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 89.69 points or 0.18% to 49,860.98. The Nifty 50 index was up 43.70 points or 0.30% at 14,780.10.
Meanwhile, the Nifty Bank index gained 139.30 points or 0.41% to currently trade at 33,742.75.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.72% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.64%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1589 shares rose and 834 shares fell. A total of 147 shares were unchanged.
Asian stocks were trading lower amid surge in bond yields and worries regarding rising inflation worldwide. Chinese search giant Baidu made its debut in Hong Kong on Tuesday, with shares rising more than 1% in morning trade from their issue price.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 123,630,825 with 2,722,431 deaths. India reported 345,377 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 160,166 deaths while 11,181,253 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Supreme Court judgement:
The Supreme Court would deliver its judgment in the loan moratorium case today, 23 March 2021, as per reports. A batch of pleas were moved before the apex court last year seeking waiver from interest on interest in respect of EMIs which were not paid by the borrowers after availing the loan moratorium scheme. The six-month loan moratorium scheme was extended by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buzzing Index:
The S&P BSE Capital Goods index rose 1.22% to 21,401.70, advancing for second day. The index has added 1.49% in two sessions.
Among the index components, Adani Green Energy (up 5%), Grindwell Norton (up 2.09%), SKF India (up 1.18%), Siemens (up 1.09%) and Larsen & Toubro (up 0.59%) advanced.
Meanwhile, Honeywell Automation India (down 1.45%), Schaeffler India (down 1.34%), Hindustan Aeronautics (down 0.74%), Bharat Electronics (down 0.63%) and Havells India (down 0.29%) edged lower.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Mahindra & Mahindra rose 1.04% to Rs 862.45 after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a contract with Mahindra Defence Systems (MDSL), the company's subsidiary, worth Rs 1,056 crore. The contract is for supplying 1,300 light specialist vehicles to the Indian Army.
Varroc Engineering fell 2.36% to Rs 397.35. The auto ancillary company launched a qualified institutional placement (QIP) of equity shares on Tuesday (22 March 2021). The QIP issue committee of the board of directors of the company approved the floor price of Rs 395.41 per equity share, which is at 2.84% discount to Varroc Engineering's closing price of Rs 406.95 yesterday.
The company's QIP committee will meet on or after 25 March 2021 to to consider and approve the issue price for the said issue. The company intends to use the net proceeds from QIP to meet the capital expenditure and working capital requirements; repayment of debt, expansion and modernization; and general corporate purpose.
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