Benchmarks trade lower; Auto shares rally for 3rd day

The equity barometers traded with limited losses in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,200 level. Auto shares extended gains for the third consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 223.44 points or 0.31% to 72,919.36. The Nifty 50 index lost 54.05 points or 0.24% to 22,158.65.

In the broader market, S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.08% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.11%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,802 shares rose and 2,135 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India�s forex reserves declined $5.24 billion to $617.23 billion for the week ended 9 February 2024, according to the latest RBI data. The forex kitty stood at $622.5 billion for the week ended 2 February 2024.

The reserves had peaked in October 2021, when kitty had reached $ 645 billion. In the current financial year 2023-24, the forex reserves have increased $50.28 billion, the RBI data showed.

Foreign currency assets, which constitute the largest component of the reserves, dropped $4.07 billion to $546.52 billion during the week under review, as per the latest data. The country�s reserve position with the IMF also declined $28 million to $48.32 billion in the reporting week.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index rose 0.34% to 20,690.55. The index rallied 2.16% in the three trading sessions.

TVS Motor Company (up 2.12%), Bharat Forge (up 2.11%), Bosch (up 1.84%), Sona BLW Precision Forgings (up 1.12%) and Eicher Motors (up 1.01%), Ashok Leyland (up 0.92%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.68%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.47%), Tata Motors (up 0.37%) and Samvardhana Motherson International (up 0.26%) advanced.

On the other hand, MRF (down 1.16%), Balkrishna Industries (down 0.82%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 0.4%) edged lower.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India`s 10-year benchmark federal paper shed 0.27% to 7.058 as compared with previous close 7.077.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.8800, compared with its close of 82.9175 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2024 settlement shed 0.48% to Rs 62,286.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, was shed 0.05% to 103.88.

The United States 10-year bond yield declined 0.70% to 4.228.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2024 settlement shed 44 cents or 0.54% to $81.18 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Larsen & Toubro advanced 2.78% after the civil construction firm�s construction arm secured a �significant order� for its Railways Strategic Business Group, to construct the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project (phase 2A).

Piramal Pharma shed 0.18%. The pharma major said that US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) conducted a pre-approval inspection (PAI) at its Lexington facility, USA. The inspection was conducted from 20 February to 23 February, 2024 at Lexington facility, USA. At the end of inspection, USFDA issued Form-483 with 2 observations.

SBEC Sugar was locked in 10% upper circuit after the company announced that it has repaid its entire loan of Rs 201 crore along with interest thereon taken from the U.P. Co-operative Bank.

Alkem Laboratories dropped 7.25% on reports that the income tax department`s investigation into pharma major has found large-scale tax evasion by the company.

Last September, the income tax department surveyed Alkem Laboratories` offices due to suspected tax evasion. The investigation reportedly revealed alleged excessive deductions totaling over Rs 1,000 crore, particularly from manufacturing units in Sikkim. Additionally, the company made substantial payments to doctors for prescriptions, amounting to hundreds of crores. These findings may result in significant penalties for Alkem Labs, the media reports suggested.

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