Benchmarks hit fresh intraday high; auto stocks in demand

The domestic equity benchmarks hit fresh intraday high in afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered around the 17,900 level. Auto stocks advanced for the fourth day in a row.

At 13:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 308.47 points or 0.52% to 60,164.40. The Nifty 50 index added 89.60 points or 0.5% to 17,894.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.25% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was trading flat.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1810 shares rose and 1522 shares fell. A total of 100 shares were unchanged.

Shares of Bajaj Finance were trading 3.78% higher at Rs 7,620.10. The NBFC major`s customer franchise grew nearly 20% to 55.4 million on 31 December 2021 as compared to 46.3 million as of 31 December 2020.

New loans booked during Q3 FY22 were at 7.4 million, rising 23% from 6 million in Q3 FY21. Assets under management (AUM) stood at approximately Rs 181,300 crore as of 31 December 2021, up 26% from Rs 143,550 crore as of 31 December 2020.

The company`s deposit book stood at approximately Rs 30,000 crore as of 31 December 2021 as compared to Rs 23,777 crore on 31 December 2020.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index rose 1.12% to 11,264.60, extending gains for fourth consecutive session. The index has added 4.73% in four sessions.

Ashok Leyland (up 2.98%), Bajaj Auto (up 1.80%), Eicher Motors (up 1.59%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.54%), Maruti Suzuki (up 1.45%), TVS Motor Company (up 0.98%) and TVS Motor Company (up 0.80%) advanced.

Economy:

Indian services companies continued to report growth of sales and business activity in December. Rates of expansion moderated, but were nevertheless marked by historical standards. However, despite robust gains in new work in recent months, companies were able to stay on top of workloads and as a consequence reduced headcounts at the end of 2021.

The latest results also showed an improvement in business confidence, although sentiment remained subdued as several firms were concerned about price pressures and the possibility of new waves of COVID-19. Rates of input cost and output charge inflation eased in December, however

The index, compiled by IHS Markit, was at 55.5 in December compared with 58.1 in November. December was the fifth successive month of expansion for the sector.

Private sector firms in India recorded a further robust increase in output during December, despite the pace of expansion easing to a three-month low. The Composite* PMI Output Index slipped from 59.2 in November to 56.4, but remained above its long-run average of 53.9. Both manufacturing production and services activity rose at slower, albeit historically strong, rates.

COVID-19 Update:

In last 24 hours, India recorded 58,097 new covid case taking the country`s active caseload to 2,14,004 patients. The country reported 534 new deaths taking the death toll to 4,82,551 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, India recorded 2,135 cases of Omicron infection as of Tuesday, the most in Maharashtra with 653 cases, followed by Delhi with 464 cases.

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