Barometers turn rangebound; pharma stocks advance

The domestic equity barometers traded in a narrow range near the day`s high in mid afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading above the 17,350 mark. Pharma shares extended rally for the fifth consecutive session.

At 14:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 478.26 points or 0.83% to 58,272.58. The Nifty 50 index added 153.45 points or 0.89% to 17,357.40 .

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.28% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.04%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2447 shares rose and 901 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories for Union Budget 2022-23 in New Delhi on Thursday. The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance, Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, Finance Ministers, Ministers and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories and the Union Government.

The Finance Secretary welcomed all the participants to the deliberation and informed the importance of this particular consultation meeting. Most of the participants thanked the Union Finance Minister for financially supporting their States and Union Territories during the worst months of pandemic, by enhancing borrowing limits, providing back to back loans to States and through special assistance for capital expenditure.

The participants also gave numerous suggestions to the Union Finance Minister for inclusion in the Budget Speech. Sitharaman thanked the participants for their inputs and suggestions towards Union Budget 2022-23 and assured to examine each of the proposals.

COVID-19 Update:

India`s active caseload currently stands at 91,361. Active cases account for less than 1% of total cases, currently at 0.26%. Recovery rate currently stands at 98.36%. India reported 7,585 recoveries in the last 24 hours, which increases total recoveries to 3,42,66,363.

A total of 16,764 new cases were reported in India in the last 24 hours. Daily positivity rate (1.34%) is less than 2% for last 88 days. Weekly positivity rate (0.89%) is less than 1% for last 47 days. According to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday, the country recorded 961 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus across 22 states and UTs so far.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 0.44% to 14,197.35. The index has advanced 5.23% in five session.

Torrent Pharma (up 2.57%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.55%), Lupin (up 1.51%), Sun Pharma (up 1.08%), Divi`s Labs (up 0.99%), Biocon (up 0.94%) and Cadila Healthcare (up 0.90%) advanced.

Simultaneously, Granules India (down 1.45%), Cipla (down 0.95%), Gland Pharma (down 0.89%) and Ipca Labs (down 0.62%) declined.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.489% compared with 6.469% at close in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 74.1150, compared with its close of 74.4250 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 February 2022 settlement shed 0.18% to Rs 47,798.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.06% to 96.03.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2022 settlement lost 19 cents or 0.24% to $79.34 a barrel.

Global Markets:

European shares declined while Asian shares ended on a mixed note on Friday in thin year-end trading.

China`s factory activity saw an acceleration in growth during December, with the official manufacturing Purchasing Managers` Index (PMI) coming in at 50.3 for that month from November`s reading of 50.1, according to data released Friday by the country`s National Bureau of Statistics.

Wall Street closed lower on Thursday, retreating late in thin holiday volume from record highs set early in the session on strong U.S. data including a drop in weekly claims for U.S. unemployment benefits.

On the data front, new claims for US unemployment benefits fell in the week leading up to Christmas and benefits rolls slid to their lowest level of the coronavirus pandemic era the week earlier, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 198,000 for the week ended December 25 from a revised 206,000 a week earlier.

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