Benchmarks turn rangebound; Sensex adds 298 pts; RIL rallies 2.45%

The benchmark indices traded near the day`s high in a narrow range in afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the 19,100 mark. Realty, oil & gas and bank shares were in demand while auto, consumer durables and FMCG stocks corrected.

At 13:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 298.26 points or 0.47% to 64,081.06. The Nifty 50 index added 80.25 points or 0.42% to 19,127.50.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 0.01% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.04%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1,914 shares rose and 1,729 shares fell. A total of 201 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) (up 3.49%), Reliance Industries (RIL) (up 2.45%), Cipla (up 2.16%), Ultratech Cement (up 1.49%) and Bharti Airtel (up 1.36%) were major Nifty gainers.

Tata Motors (down 1.67%), Maruti Suzuki (down 1.66%), Eicher Motors (down 1.26%), Axis Bank (down 1.26%) and NTPC (down 0.99%) were major Nifty losers.

BPCL advanced 3.49% after the state-owned oil marketing firm reported a standalone net profit of Rs 8,501.17crore in Q2 FY24 as against a net loss of Rs 304.17 crore posted in Q2 FY23. Net sales (excluding excise duty) declined 10.3% to Rs 1,02,985.56 crore in Q2 FY24 from Rs 1,14,807.59 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter previous year.

RIL gained 2.45% after the Mukesh Ambani-led diversified company reported 28.15% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 19,878 crore in Q2 FY24 as against Rs 15,512 crore posted in Q2 FY23. Gross revenue rose by 1.2% year on year (YoY) to Rs 255,996 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2023, supported by continuing growth momentum in consumer businesses.

UltraTech Cement added 1.49%. The board of directors approved the 3rd phase of growth with an investment of Rs 13,000 crore towards increasing the capacity by another 21.9 mtpa with a mix of brown field and green field projects.

NTPC shed 0.99%. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 4726.40 crore in Q2 FY24 as against net profit of Rs 3417.67 crore in Q2 FY23. Total income rose to Rs 45384.64 crore in the quarter ended September 2023 as against Rs 44681.50 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2022.

Global Markets:

The Dow Jones index futures were up 125 points, indicating a positive opening in the US stocks today.

European shares advanced while Asian stocks traded mixed ahead of a week of key economic data from around the region. Monetary policy decisions from Japan and Malaysia, inflation data from South Korea, and gross domestic growth figures from Taiwan and Hong Kong will be in focus this week.

Risk appetite was dulled by Israel`s push to surround Gaza`s main city in a self-declared "second phase" of a three-week war against Iranian-backed Hamas militants.

US stocks ended the day mixed on Friday as renewed selling occurred on Wall Street on fears of a recession. The Federal Reserve decision looms on Wednesday, where the central bank is widely expected to hold its benchmark interest rate at the same level. The Bank of England will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday.

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