Barometers trade with small gains; European mkt opens lower

The barometers continued to trade with limited gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 22,400 level. Oil & gas, pharma and realty shares advanced while media, IT and consumer durables shares declined.

At 13:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 36.54 points or 0.05% to 73,842.69. The Nifty 50 index added 62.30 points or 0.10% to 22,401.05.

The benchmark Nifty50 hit a record high of 22,440.90 in the mid- morning trade.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.31% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.71%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,402 shares rose and 2,475 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India�s forex reserves jumped $2.975 billion to $619.072 billion for the week ended February 23, according to the latest RBI data. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped $1.132 billion to $616.097 billion.

For the week ending February 23, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $2.405 billion to $548.188 billion.

Gold reserves increased by $472 million to $47.848 billion during the week, the RBI said.

India�s reserve position with the IMF was up by $9 million to $4.839 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.

Gainers & Losers:

NTPC (up 4.10%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (up 3.71%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 2.54%), Power Grid Corporation of India (up 2.51%), and Bajaj Auto (up 2.08%) were major Nifty gainers.

Eicher Motors (down 2.22%), JSW Steel (down 2.14%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.69%), SBI life insurance company (down 1.37%) and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (down 1.28%) were major Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rose 0.58%. The company had handled 35.4 MMT of total cargo in February 2024, implying a healthy 33% YoY growth.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services rose 0.10%. The NBFC recorded an overall disbursement of approximately Rs 4,730 crore in February 2024, delivering 13% year on year (YoY) growth.

Angel One advanced 2.60% after the Brokerage Company�s client base jumped 60.8% to 21.43 million in February 2024 as against 13.33 million recorded in February 2023.

Godrej Properties rallied 3.09% after the company has entered into definitive agreements to develop a large township project in North Bengaluru under a profit-sharing model.

RailTel Corporation of India dropped 3.71%. The public sector enterprise announced that it has received a work order from State Transport Authority, Odisha, aggregating to Rs 87.85 crore.

Global Markets:

European stocks declined while Asian stocks traded mixed on Monday as investors are cautious ahead of China�s National People�s Congress for 2024.

Japan�s Nikkei-225 Stock Average surpassed 40,000 for the first time as the government discusses officially stating that the country�s economy has overcome deflation, as per reports. Chinese equities will be in focus ahead of the 14th National People�s Congress, an annual parliamentary gathering in Beijing, that will begin Tuesday as markets await more stimulus measures to aid a soft economy.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs, as technology stocks rallied on continued enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, with further support from declining Treasury yields. All eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell when he testifies before lawmakers on Wednesday and Thursday.

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